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COPYRIGHT DEPOSfR 



The Call of the Stars 

A Popular Introduction to a Knowledge of the 
Starry Skies with their Romance and Legend 



By 

John R. Kippax, M.D., LL.B. 

Author of " Comets and Meteors," " Churchyard Literature," etc. 



" O ye Stars of Heaven, bless ye the Lordt 
Praise him and magnify him forever" 

Benedicite. 



Fifty-five Illustrations 



Second Edition 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York and London 

Zhz Iftnfcftierbocftci: ipre06 

1919 






Copyright, 1914 

BY 

JOHN R. KIPPAX 
Copyright, 1919 

BY 

JOHN R. KIPPAX 

Second Edition 



JUN --0 !929 



TTbe finicftcrbocfter press, "Wew |?orft 



CI.A570257 



00 

O* Go H.0 



PREFACE 

The design of this volume is to present, in plain, non- 
technical language, a concise and accurate story of the 
starry heavens, together with the legendary lore that 
time and fancy have associated with them. In its 
preparation the author has consulted and freely used 
the standard authorities along the various lines of 
astronomical research, and to these his grateful ac- 
knowledgments are due. 

The book is not intended for the professional reader, 
who is doubtless already familiar with the facts here 
given, but rather for the lay reader, who has but limited 
time to devote to the subject, and yet who desires to 
know about the wonderful things in the sky, with their 
interesting myths and legends. 

The work is richly illustrated by charts and diagrams, 
and by a large number of reproductions of recent 
photographs made by distinguished astronomers. 

The charts as arranged are approximately correct 
for every place on the surface of the earth situated 
within a few degrees north or south of the latitudes 
of New York and Chicago (40° 43' and 41° 53' north 
latitude, respectively), and for all ordinary purposes 
represent the aspect of the sky for the different places 
in any of the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere, 
at the local time of each place, whatever the longitude 
may be. With their assistance it is believed that the 



vi Preface 

reader will experience but little difficulty in recognising 
the general contour of the chief constellations, and the 
relative position of the principal stars, and will find 
uplifting pleasure in viewing the "oldest picture-book of 
all," The Night- Sky, "a book whose pages turn with 
the gliding years." 

The sun, planets, and other members of the local 
solar system are described in the later chapters of the 
book. Owing to their ever-changing positions, however, 
it would be quite impossible to locate them on the 
charts, after the manner of the fixed stars. 

The author desires to express his indebtedness to the 
following individual astronomers for the use in the book 
of the reproductions of the many excellent photographs 
and drawings: Professors William H. Pickering and E. 
C. Pickering' of Harvard College Observatory; Pro- 
fessors A. Hall, G. A. Hill, and G. H. Peters of the Naval 
Observatory, Washington; Professors E. E. Barnard and 
E. B. Frost of Yerkes Observatory; Professor Percival 
Lowell^ of Lowell Observatory; Professor P. Puisseux of 
Paris Observatory, France; and the Directors of the 
Lick Observatory and the Mount Wilson Observatory 
of the Carnegie Institution, California. 

To other friends for kind and gracious service his best 
thanks are also due: to Mr. C. J. Helm for drawings 
from the author's rough drafts, and to H. Kippax, C. E., 
for the interesting article on Time. 

In conclusion, it is hoped that the book may be of 
service in helping on a rapidly growing popular interest 
in the heavenly bodies and their stories. 

J.R.K. 

January, 19 1 4. 

' Dr. E. C. Pickering died February 3, 191 9. 
'* Dr. Percival Lowell died November 12, 191 6. 



PAGB 



CONTENTS 

PART I 

THE STARS 

CHAPTER I 

General Remarks 3 

CHAPTER II 
The Night-Sky of Spring 32 

CHAPTER III 
The Night-Sky of Summer .... 80 

CHAPTER IV 
The Night-Sky of Autumn . . . . 126 

chapter V 
The Night-Sky of Winter . . . . 161 

CHAPTER VI 

The Night-Sky of Winter (Continued) , .193 

CHAPTER VII 

The Milky Way — Magellanic Clouds — Zodiacal 
Light — Aurora Borealis — Green and White 
Nebulae — Double and Multiple Stars — 
Variable Stars — Temporary Stars . .217 

vii 



viii Contents 

PAGS 

CHAPTER VIII 

Stellar Distances — Spectrum Analysis and 
Celestial Photography ..... 244 

PART II 

THE SUN AND THE PLANETS 

CHAPTER I 

The Planetesimal Hypothesis, and Others . 259 

chapter II 
The Local Solar System {A Synopsis) . . 265 

chapter III 
The Sun 284 

CHAPTER IV 
Mercury and Venus 297 

chapter V 
The Earth, the Tides, and Time , . . 309 

CHAPTER VI 
The Moon . 332 

CHAPTER VII 
The Eclipses 355 

CHAPTER VIII 
Mars and the Planetoids .... 366 

CHAPTER IX 
Jupiter and Saturn 380 



Contents ix 

PAGE 

CHAPTER X 

Uranus and Neptune 396 

CHAPTER XI 

Comets and Meteors 402 

Index 419 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATES 

PLATE FACING PAGE 

I Orion and the Bull . Frontispiece 

From Atlas Celeste de Flamsteed, Second Edi- 
tion, A.D. 1776 

II The Great Pyramid of Cheops . 16 

III The Long Slant Passage of the 

Great Pyramid .... 28 

IV The Owl Nebula in Ursa Major . 68 

From a photograph taken at Mount Wilson 
Solar Observatory, February 9, 19 10. 

V The Great Spiral Nebula in Canes 

Venatici 68 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Ritchey, 
at Yerkes Observatory, June 3, 1902. 

VI Phaethon Driving the Chariot of 

the Sun 90 

From a bronze in possession of the author. 

VII The Ring Nebula in Lyra . .104 

From a photograph taken at Mount Wilson 
Solar Observatory, July i, 19 10. 

VIII The Dumb-Bell Nebula IN VuLPECULA 104 

From a photograph taken at Mount Wilson 
Solar Observatory, July 6 and 7, 1910. 
xi 



xn 



Illustrations 

PLATB FACING PACK 

IX Star-Cloud and Black Holes in 

Sagittarius . . . .114;, 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Barnard, 
at Yerkes Observatory, July 31, 1905. 

X The Star-Cluster in Hercules . 120 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Ritchey, 
with the 40-inch refractor, at Yerkes Ob- 
servatory, April 25; 1 90 1. 

XI The Lace Nebula in Cygnus . .120 

From a photograph taken at Moimt Wilson 
Solar Observatory, July, 19 10. 

XII The North America Nebula in 

Cygnus 124 v 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Barnard, with 
the Bruce telescope, September 4, 1905. 

XIII The Double Cluster in Perseus . 148 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Barnard, with 
the Bruce telescope, September 15, 1904. 

XIV The Crab Nebula in Taurus . .148 

From a photograph taken at Mount Wilson 
Solar Observatory, October 13, 1909. 

XV The Great Nebula in Andromeda . 156 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Ritchey, 
at Yerkes Observatory, September 18, 1901. 

KVI The Little Dipper of the Pleiades . 174 

From a photograph of the Pleiades taken at 
Arequipa, Peru, the South American Station 
of Harvard College Observatory, November 
28, 1896. 

XVII The Nebulosities of the Pleiades . 176 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Ritchey, at 
Yerkes Observatory, October 19, 1901. 



Illustrations 



XIU 



PLATS 

XVIII 



XIX 



FACING PAGE 

The Great Nebula in Orion . .190 

From a photograph taken at Mount Wilson 
Solar Observatory, September i6, 1909. 

The Three Columns of the Temple 

OF Castor and Pollux at Rome . 216 



XX The Solar Disk, Showing Calcium 
Flocculi 

From a photograph taken at Yerkes Observ- 
atory, August 12, 1903. 



284 



XXI The Great Sun-Spot of July 17, 1905 288 

From a direct photograph taken by Mr. Fox 
at Yerkes Observatory. 

XXII Two Views of a Large Solar Promi- 
nence 290 

From photographs taken ten minutes apart, 
by Mr. Slocum, at Yerkes Observatory, 
October 10, 19 10. 

XXIII The Total Eclipse of the Sun, with 

Corona, of May 28, 1900 . . 294 

From a photograph taken by Mr. G. A. Hill 
at Barnesville, Ga. 

XXIV The Moon at Nine Days . . . 332 

From a photograph taken by P. Puisseux, at 
the Paris Observatory, February, 1900. 



XXV The Full Moon .... 334 
From a photograph taken by Mr. Wallace, 
at Yerkes Observatory, September 5, 1903. 

XXVI The Moon at Nineteen Days . . 336 

From a photograph taken by P. Puisseux, at 
the Paris Observatory, September, 1903. 



i 



xiv Illustrations 

PLATE FACING PAGE 

XXVII Earth-Shine on the Moon . . 338 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Barnard, with 
the ID-inch Bruce telescope, at Yerkes Ob- 
servatory, February 14, 1907. 

XXVIII The Planet Venus, Showing Crescent 

Phase 338 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Barnard 
at Yerkes Observatory. 



XXIX The Great Lunar Crater Copernicus 348 

From a photograph taken at Yerkes Observ- 
atory. 

XXX The Lunar Apennines, Alps, and 

Caucasus ..... 350 
From a photograph taken by Loewy and 
Puisseux, at Paris Observatory. 

XXXI Lunar Fancies .... 352 

From Mr. W. H. Pickering's The Moon, By 
permission. 

XXXII The Total Eclipse of the Moon, of 

February 8, 1906 . . . 358 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Barnard 
at Yerkes Observatory. 

XXXIII Morehouse's Comet, November 13, 

1908 358 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Peters, at 
the U. S. Naval Observatory, Washington. 

XXXIV The Planet Mars, Region of Syrtis 

Major, Showing Change Due to 
Rotation 366 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Barnard, 
at Yerkes Observatory, September 28, 1909. 



Illustrations 



XV 



PLATE 

XXXV 



XXXVI 



XXXVII 



XXXVIII 



XXXIX 
XL 

XLI 



XLII 



XLIII 



FACING PAGE 

A Map of the Planet Mars, 1907 . 372 

From a photograph of a drawing by Mr. 
Percival Lowell, at Lowell Observatory. 

The Planet Jupiter, Showing the 

Red Spot, and a Satellite . 382 

From a photograph of a drawing made by 
Mr. Keeler, at Lick Observatory. 

The Planet Saturn and its Rings, 1909 388 

From a photograph of a drawing made from 
visual observations, by Mr. Percival Lowell, 
at Lowell Observatory. 

The Planet Saturn, December 12, 
1907, WITH its Rings on Edge, 
Showing Condensations . 



From a photograph of a drawing made by Mr. 
Barnard, at Yerkes Observatory. 

The Eight Columns of the Temple 
OF Saturn at Rome . 

The Planet Neptune and its Satel- 
lite ...... 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Barnard, 
at Yerkes Observatory, October 10, 1900. 

Halley's Comet, with the Planet 
Venus and a Meteor Trail in the 
Vicinity 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Percival 
Lowell, at Lowell Observatory, May 13, 19 10 



390 



394 



400 



404 



Kalley's Comet, May 29, 1910 . . 410 

From a photograph taken by Mr. Barnard, 
at Yerkes Observatory. 

The Ahnighito or Tent Meteorite . 418 

Courtesy of the American Museum of Natural 
History, New York. 



xvi Illustrations 

PAGB 

DIAGRAMS 

Fig. I. The Barritt-Serviss Star and Planet 

Finder 36 

" 2. The Measurement of the Moon's Dis- 
tance 246 

" 3. The Measurement of the Sun's Distance 248 

" 4. The Dispersion of Light by the Prism . 252 

" 5. The Orbits of the Terrestrial Planets 266 

" 6. The Orbits of the Major Planets . 267 

" 7. The Different Phases of Venus . .271 

charts 

CHART FAONG PACE 

I The Spring Night-Sky . . • .32 

II The Summer Night-Sky . . • . 80 

III The Autumn Night-Sky 126 

IV The Winter Night-Sky • • '•" . 162 



SOME AUTHORITIES CONSULTED 



The Sun .... 

Star-Names and Their Meanings 
Through the Telescope 
Popular Guide to the Heavens . 
The Birth of Worlds and Systems 
Astronomy for All . 
Geography of the Heavens ) 
and Celestial Atlas j 
Astronomy .... 
The System of the Stars . 
Astronomy of To-day 
The Night-Skies of a Year 
The Stellar Heavens 
The Growth of a Planet . 
The Myths of Greece and Rome 
A Study in Stellar Evolution . 
Astronomy .... 
A stronomy of the A ncients 
The Evolution of Worlds j 
Mars and Its Canals j 
A Beginner's Star-Book 
The Friendly Stars ) 

The Ways of the Planets J 
The Romance of Modern Astronomy 
The Astronomy of the Bible 
Descriptive Astronomy . 
The Spectroscope and Its Work 
Astronomy for Everybody 
Star Lore of All Ages ) 

In Starland with a Three-Inch Telescope j 
The Moon .... 
The Solar System 
The Stars in Song and Legend 
Half-hours with the Summer Stars 
Half -hours with the Stars ) 
A New Star Atlas (" * 



C. G. Abbot 

R. H. Allen 

James Baikie 

Sir Robert S. Ball 

A. W. Bickerton 

. B. H. Brugel 



. E. H. Burritt 



G. F. Chambers 
Agnes M. Clerke 
c. g. dolmage 
J. H. Elgie 
J. E. Gore 
E. S. Grew 
H. A. Guerber 
G. E. Hale 
H. Jacoby 
Sir George C. Lewis 



Percival Lowell 

Kelvin McKready 

Martha Evans Martin 

H. Macpherson, Jr. 
E. W. Maunder 

. F. R. MOULTON 

H. F. Newall 
Simon F. Newcomb 

W. Tyler Olcott 

W. H. Pickering 

C. L. Poor 

J. G. Porter 

. Mary Proctor 

Richard Proctor 



xvu 



xviii Some Authorities Consulted 



How to Study the Stars .... 

Researches on the Evolution of the Stellar System 

Astronomy with the Naked Eye 

Astronomy in a Nutshell 

Curiosities of the Skies 

Round the Year with the Stars 

New Astronomy . 

Manual of Astronomy . 

The Moyithly Evening Sky Map 

Popular Astronomy 

The Observatory 



. L. RXJDAUX 

T. J. J. See 
G. P. Serviss 



D. P. Todd 
Charles A. Young 



The Call of the Stars 



Part I 
The Stars 



CHAPTER I 

GENERAL REMARKS 

The sad and solemn night 

Hath yet her multitude of cheerful fires; 
The glorious host of light 

Walk the dark hemisphere till she retires; 
All through her silent watches, gliding slow, 

Her constellations come, and climb the heavens, and go. 

Bryant. 

On almost any moonless night when the sky is per- 
fectly clear, and the soft shades of twilight have van- 
ished, a most enjoyable half -hour or hour may be spent 
in gazing upon the immense deep blue expanse above, 
bedecked with roving planets and scintillating stars. 
The beautiful constellations — strange groupings of the 
brighter stars, handed down from the antiquity of the 
ages — are always present in God's great outdoors, 
and are ever changing as the months go by, constituting 
a scene of marvellous and impressive splendour, and 
at the same time affording an unfailing field for study, 
of the highest interest and utility. 

Besides the stars themselves, a most conspicuous 
object, varying approximately from five to forty degrees 
in width, is that wonderful belt of faintly diffused light 
termed the Galaxy or Milky Way, which, with its rifts 
and chasms, stretches like a magnificent arch across 
the constellated sky, and forms the equatorial zone of 

3 



4 The Call of the Stars 

the vast spherical or spheroidal universe of stars. 
Milton in his Paradise Lost — the loftiest intellectual 
effort in the whole range of literature — aptly refers to 
it as: 

A broad and ample road whose dust is gold 
And pavement stars. 

Then, too, the myriads of nebulae and star clusters in 
every stage of evolution and the many so-called vari- 
able stars, some of which can be seen with the naked 
eye, are all most interesting objects to the observer 
who is so fortimate as to possess a small telescope — the 
ideal instrument for the amateur being a three-inch or 
a j&ve-inch, equatorially mounted, and provided with 
eyepieces of proper powers. 

Many stellar wonders, it is well known, are revealed 
by even a large opera-glass magnifying about three or 
four diameters, and still more by a prism binocular 
field-glass with a magnifying power of seven or ten or 
fifteen diameters. An opera-glass will show up fifth- 
or sixth-magnitude stars quite plainly, and will also 
bring into vision about ten times as many stars as the 
tmaided eye can see. A small telescope will show 
stars down to the ninth magnitude, and with the very 
best telescope the limit of vision is reached at about 
the sixteenth or the seventeenth magnitude, while stars 
from the eighteenth down to the twentieth magnitude 
are recognisable only by means of the photographic 
plate. 

None of the stars present any sensible disk or surface 
image, even in the most powerful telescopes. They 
all appear as mere luminous points, a little more or a 
little less radiant, and are never seen to set, as owing to 
the terrestrial atmosphere they cease to be visible 



General Remarks 5 

before they reach the horizon. It is a remarkable fact 
that a fixed star seems smaller, though brighter, in a 
good telescope than when seen with the naked eye, as 
the irradiation which causes it to appear larger to the 
naked eye vanishes in the telescope. 

The twinkling or scintillation of a star, a phenomenon 
over which poets in all periods of the world's history 
have rhapsodised, and of which children have been 
made familiar by the old nursery rhyme 

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, 

is due to aerial disturbances by which the progress of 
light is interfered with. The white stellar light, which 
consists of all the rainbow colours, is broken up into 
its elementary colours in passing through the restless 
terrestrial atmosphere. Proportionate to the aerial 
density and motion, now one colour prevails over the 
rest, and now another, so that the star appears to alter 
its colour and brightness incessantly. The scintilla- 
tion is especially noticeable on clear wintry nights, 
being most pronounced in January and February, and 
has been observed to increase during the time of twi- 
light. It is always large near the horizon, and is apt 
to be quite marked if a change of weather is imminent. 
Yellow and red stars seem to twinkle the most, white 
stars the least. 

According to their radiance, rather than to their 
real size, stellar photometry arbitrarily divides the 
stars visible to the naked eye into six magnitudes, each 
magnitude being approximately two and a half times 
brighter than the next below it in rank. Then, too, 
each magnitude has been found to be about three times 
more numerous than the one which precedes it. About 
twenty of the very brightest stars in the sky, notwith- 



6 The Call of the Stars 

standing they show great inequality, are called first- 
magnitude stars, the star Aldebaran being generally 
taken as the standard of brightness. About sixty- 
five, not quite so bright, are of the second magnitude, 
nearly two hundred of the third, over four hundred of 
the fourth, about eleven hundred of the fifth, and over 
three thousand of the sixth magnitude. The total 
number of stars, therefore, that can be seen without 
optical aid, is about five thousand, distributed nearly 
equally between the northern and the southern skies. 
Not more than about two thousand of- these are visible 
at any one time to the unaided eye. 

The stars, however, that can be seen with the naked 
eye are only the merest handful, compared with the 
vast number of stars in the entire stellar system. It is 
said that the great photographic chart and catalogue 
of the heavens,' work on which has extended over 
many years, will show about forty million stars, and 
will include all down to the fourteenth magnitude. 
Nearly one and a quarter million of the brightest of 
these will be catalogued. Some astronomers, who have 
attempted to estimate the number of the starry host, 
declare that if all the stars could be counted, they would 
exceed one hundred million. But plainly, considering 
the endlessness of space, it is most probable that even 
this liberal estimate falls far short of the myriads that 
actually exist. Bickerton has recently expressed the 
opinion that there are at least a thousand million sims, 
vivid and dead, in the entire imi verse. And again, 
for all that beings on this earth can tell, every star may 

'The International Photographic Survey of the Heavens was in- 
augurated in April, 1887, at a conference of astronomers, representing 
sixteen different nationalities, which met in Paris, on the invitation 
of M. I'Amiral Mouchez, a late director of the Paris Observatory. 



General Remarks 7 

be the mighty ruler of a system of bodies revolving 
round it, similar to that revolving roimd the sim, 
itself a star. 

The old Bible words, "Look now toward heaven 
and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them,'* 
bear forcible witness to their vast multitude. Their 
actual number is known only to Him who "telleth the 
number of the stars" and "calleth them all by name." 

Though we too call the stars, they answer not; 

They do not softly come like children shy 
At a fond parent's calling, I wot. 

We do not know what names God calls them by. 

For the amateur star-gazer, particular interest will 
attach to perhaps not over three hundred easily to be 
distinguished stars, arranged in interesting star-groups, 
and comprising all of the first, second, and third magni- 
tude stars, and a few of the fourth. 

Naked-eye stars, or as they are sometimes termed 
''lucid stars," are distributed over the entire sky with 
considerable imiformity, but telescopic stars — those 
which are invisible without telescopic aid — are most 
thickly crowded in the Milky Way. 

The names and colours of the twenty brightest stars, 
with their magnitudes, in the order of their brightness, 
according to the Revised Harvard Photometry, 1908, 
are as follows : 

Sirius (bluish white) —1.6 

Canopus (bluish white) —0.9 

Alpha Centauri (white) . .... o.i 

Vega (pale sapphire) o.i 

Capella (creamy white) 0.2 

Arcturus (orange) 0.2 

Rigel (bluish white) 0.3 



8 



The Call of the Stars 



Procyon (yellowish white) 
Achernar (white) 
Beta Centauri (white) 
Altair (yellowish white) 

Betelgeux (orange red) 

Alpha Crucis (bluish white) 
Aldebaran (light rose) 
Spica (silvery white) 
Pollux (orange) . 
Antares (bright red) 
Fomalhaut (reddish) 
Deneb (white) 
Regulus (white) . 



0.5 
0.6 
0.9 
0.9 

0.9 max. 
1.4 min. 
I.I 
I.I 

1.2 
1.2 
1.2 
1.3 
1.3 
1.3 



Three of these brilliant stars — Capella, Altair, and 
Deneb or Alpha Cygni — are situated very close to the 
Milky Way. Four others — Vega, Procyon, Betelgeux, 
and Aldebaran — are located upon its immediate border. 
Five — Canopus, Alpha Centauri, Beta Centauri, 
Alpha Crucis, and Achernar — are so far south that 
they cannot be seen in this latitude, but can be seen in 
the latitude of Cuba. Canopus and Achernar, which 
are a little farther north than the others, can be seen 
in some parts of Florida and Texas. 

The stellar magnitude of the sun, which gives ten 
thousand million times the light of Sirius, is estimated 
at about —26.5. It has been calculated that on a clear 
night the total starlight from the entire celestial sphere 
amoimts to about one-sixtieth of the light of the full 
moon. And yet according to recent statistical research, 
based on the new chart of the heavens, it is said, that 
ninety-five per cent, of the stars visible through a fair- 
sized telescope, are in actual luminosity greater than 
the sun. 



General Remarks 9 

Of all the stars strewn through space, there are but 
seventy odd whose actual distances have been measured, 
the others being so remote that no parallax can be found 
for them. It is possible, however, that as a result of 
the investigations now in progress, the distances of 
most of the naked-eye stars will be ascertained ere 
many years have elapsed. The distances, where known, 
are usually expressed not in miles, but in what is 
termed "light years," astronomers having adopted as 
the imit of stellar distance that celestial yardstick the 
"light year" — the space travelled by a ray of light in 
a year, while moving at the rate of 186,400 miles a 
second — a, speed identical with the measured speed of 
electricity. This amounts roughly to about six million 
million miles. 

The average distance from the earth of first-magni- 
tude stars is about thirty-three light years, that of 
second magnitude stars, fifty-two light years, and that 
of third magnitude stars, about eighty-two light years. 

At the present time, so far as is known, the brilliant 
star Alpha Centauri, visible only in southern latitudes, 
is the nearest of the stars. Careful calculations have 
fixed its distance at 43 light years, or about twenty- 
five million million miles. A, good idea of this great 
distance may be had by regarding the distance from 
the earth to the sun, which averages 92,820,000 miles, 
(107 J times the sun's diameter) as one foot, then Alpha 
Centauri would be, on the same scale, over fifty miles 
away. Sound, which is a rather fast traveller, but is 
dependent on the atmosphere for its motion, would, if 
it were possible for it to travel through space from 
this nearest fixed star, spend at its rate of speed — 11 00 
feet a second — over three million years on the journey. 

The average distance of Lalande 211C5, an incon- 



lo The Call of the Stars 

spicuous telescopic star of about the seventh magnitude, 
in the constellation of the Great Bear, and the nearest 
star in the northern skies, is, as estimated by different 
authorities, eight light years, or over 505,000 times that 
of the sun from the earth. 

The radiant bluish-white star Sirius, the nearest 
of the bright stars in the northern hemisphere, and by 
far the most brilliant star in the whole sky, though by 
no means the biggest of the stars, is 8| light years 
distant, or about fifty-two million million miles. 

The fourth-magnitude star Tau, in Cetus, the Whale, 
is estimated to be gi light years distant. 

The brilliant Procyon, a yellowish-white star, and 
one of the most interesting in the entire heavens, is 
about ten light years away. 

61 Cygni, a relatively little star of the fifth and a half 
magnitude, in the constellation of the Swan, is, accord- 
ing to latest measurements io| light years distant. It 
was the first star whose distance was measured, and 
until quite recently was supposed to be only 6| light 
years away. 

The brightest star in the southern skies, second to 
Sirius out of the entire sky, is a bluish- white star known 
as Canopus. It is so far off, however, that its distance 
cannot be ascertained. Roughly, it has been estimated 
at not less than 325 light years away. 

The reddish star Fomalhaut, the farthest south of 
all the first magnitude stars visible in this latitude, is 
22,2 light years distant. 

The beautiful bluish-white star Vega, called the 
arc-light of the heavens, a star a hundred times greater 
than the sun, and which about fourteen thousand years 
ago was the north polar-star, is thirty-five light years 
away. 



General Remarks u 

The slightly greenish-white star Castor, one of the 
Heavenly Twins, and the finest double star in the 
northern heavens, is nearly ii6 light years distant, 
while his immortal brother Pollux is about fifty-one. 

The magnificent orange-tinted star, the flying 
Arcturus, one of the grandest orbs in the sky, is 43§ 
light years distant. 

A creamy- white star, the merry Capella, — the "star 
of stars,'* — with an estimated diameter of about fourteen 
million miles, is about forty-nine light years distant. 

The rosy Aldebaran, one of the four Royal stars of 
astrology — the others being Regulus, Antares, and 
Fomalhaut — is about forty-four light years away. 

The silvery Rigel, and the variable, ruddy Betelgeux, 
leading stars in spectacular Orion, the most magnificent 
of all the constellations and one of the few visible from 
all parts of the earth, are so far off that their distances 
can scarcely be said to be known. 

The most famous star-cluster in the heavens, the 
twinkling Pleiades, sometimes called the "Seven 
Sisters," referred to in the great drama of Job (which 
is believed to be one of the oldest books in existence), 
and admirably pictured in Tennyson's Locksley Hall: 

Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising through the mellow 

shade, 
Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid 

is, according to some estimates, about 250 light years 
distant. While that "lighthouse in the sky," Polaris 
the pole star, a star about the size of the sun, and which 
consists of three suns revolving about a common centre, 
shines by light which left it nearly seventy years ago. 
Then again, the smallest telescopic stars, such as are 



12 The Call of the Stars 

seen in that most wonderful feature of the sky, the 
Milky Way, are believed to be from ten to twenty 
thousand years of light away. All astronomical 
measurements, however, fail here, as stars that are 
more than sixty light years distant are to-day practi- 
cally beyond the limits of exact measurement. 

How distant some of the nocturnal Suns! 
So distant, says the Sage, 'twere not absurd 
To doubt, if beams set out at Nature's birth, 
Are yet arrived at this so foreign world : 
Though nothing half so rapid as their flight. 

Young, Night Thoughts, 

To the ordinary beholder one star seems very much 
like another, and yet far from being merely the twin- 
kling tiny dots of light they seem to be, the silent stars 
are suns with retinues unseen, shining by their own 
inherent light, many of them gigantic suns, so very 
distant that they appear, not as at the moment of 
observation, but as they did years ago. The light 
seen is the "ancient" light that left their surface from 
a few to scores or even thousands of years back in the 
past. Some of the stars may even have ceased to exist, 
but as the last rays they sent out have not yet reached 
this planet, it may not be known for years or even 
centuries that a star had become extinct. 

Were a star quenched on high 

For ages would its light, 
Still travelling downward from the sky, 

Shine on our mortal sight. 

Longfellow. 

It will be noticed by the observer that the stars, 
"the eternal jewels of the short-lived night," as Mary 



General Remarks 13 

Mapes Dodge in The Stars calls them, have individual / 
colours, and that the colours are nearly all faint shades. 
Some of the brighter stars are a brilliant white with a 
steely glitter, like Sirius. Not a few are golden yellow, 
like Capella and the sun, while stars of a reddish tone, 
which ranges from the merest shade up to a fairly deep 
orange, are not uncommon. Still others have tints of 
the ruby, the emerald, the topaz, the garnet, and even 
the sapphire. Dr. Warren, in referring to coloured 
stars beautifully writes: ''We are charmed with the 
variegated flowers of our gardens of earth, but He who 
makes the fields blush with flowers under the warm 
kisses of the sun, has planted his wider garden of space 
with coloured stars. The rainbow flowers of the foot- 
stool, and the starry flowers of the throne, proclaim one 
being as the author of them all.'* Recalling Pierre 
de Coulevain's lines in The Heart of Life^ everywhere 
throughout the Universe, everything is linked together, 
and, as Francis Thompson, the English philosopher- 
poet, aptly puts it : 

Thou canst not stir a flower 
Without troubling a star. 

Among conspicuous stars Antares in the heart of the 
Scorpion is the ruddiest, and Betelgeux in the right 
shoulder of Orion comes next. Some of the first-magni- 
tude stars, such as Arcturus and others, will be found to 
have distinct orange tones. So peculiarly favoured by 
red and orange stars is that portion of the heavens 
between Aquila, Lyra, and Cygnus that it has not in- 
aptly been styled the Red Region, or the Red Region 
of Cygnus. White and yellow and orange-red are 
about the only star colours that are distinguishable 
with the naked eye. When seen through the telescope 



14 The Call of the Stars 

some of the fainter stars seem deep red in colour, while 
others are of a delicate bluish or greenish cast. Marked 
influence upon the colour and appearance of the stars, 
it may be noted, is exerted by the condition of the 
atmosphere. Bright stars seem most brilliant when 
near the horizon, while faint stars are best seen near 
the zenith — the point exactly over the observer's head. 

It has been observed that a blue or a green star is 
never found alone, but usually in company with a red 
or an orange star, and that bright white stars often have 
small blue ones in their vicinity. The finest examples 
of blue or green stars are found in the smaller members 
of some of the double systems. In the case of the 
double star Albireo, in the foot of the northern cross 
in constellation Cygnus, one of the most beautiful 
objects within the range of small telescopes in the north- 
ern sky, the larger star is orange-yellow, and the smaller 
one is greenish-blue. Sometimes a small cluster of 
stars will display all sorts of colours. The contrast 
of a red and a white star in the same field is not infre- 
quently a most vivid and never-to-be-forgotten sight. 
Then, too, how wondrous must be the colouring observed 
by the planet-beings, if such exist, in any one of the 
not improbable planets revolving round such glorious 
suns! How grand the fairy spectacle in those belong- 
ing to the compound systems, one sun setting it may be 
in golden yellow, or in purest green, and another rising 
in amethyst blue or in richest purple! Moreover, 
fancy can sketch better than words can describe, or 
an artist portray, the richness, beauty, and variety, 
of the hues presented, when such charmingly coloured 
suns, mingling their flashing rays, happen together in 
the sky. 

From the infantile nebula, to the star dying of old 



General Remarks 15 

age, it will be found that such as are of the same colour 
are about of the same age, and have much the same 
composition. Nebulae that are entirely in a gaseous 
condition are of a greenish tint, while such as are 
composed of partially-cooled matter, like the spiral 
nebulae, are white in colour. White and bluish-white 
stars, such as Sirius, Rigel, Spica, and Vega, are young 
in the order of evolution, and are at full glow. In the 
course of time, as they reach their hottest stage, they 
turn golden-yellow like Capella, Pollux, and the sun, 
and again as they get older, become ruddy or red, and 
are often variable, as in the cases of Betelgeux, Alde- 
baran, and Antares. Finally, as the ages pass, their 
light dies away, and they become dark, opaque bodies 
— extinct and dead suns rushing unseen on their unlit 
ways. It has been roughly estimated that the extinct 
stars or sims outnumber the lucent ones, one hundred 
to one. Verily, the universe is one vast cemetery of 
dead suns and systems of worlds. The process of crea- 
tion or of evolution of matter is, however, continuously 
going on, suns and star systems are ever being evolved, 
and as Flammarion puts it, "in space there are both 
cradles and tombs." 

About seventy-five per cent, of the brighter stars are 
white or bluish- white (sirian stars), twenty-three per 
cent, are yellowish (solar stars), about one per cent, are 
orange-red, and one per cent, blood-red. Helium, 
which is one of the products of radio-active elements, 
is present in the bluish- white stars, and to it they owe 
their supreme brilliance, while hydrogen appears 
extensively in the luminous white stars. Carbon, 
magnesium, iron, and other metals are present in the 
solar or yellow stars, and carbon compounds in the 
redder stars. Recently, it has been found, that under 



i6 The Call of the Stars 

suitable conditions, the gases helium and neon may be 
produced by passing an electric discharge through 
hydrogen. 

All the vStars are popularly called "fixed" stars, to 
distinguish them from the planets or "wandering" 
stars, which are always shifting their positions in the 
heavens. The name was given them by the ancients, 
the old idea being that the stars were "fastened like 
nails to the surface of the sky," and therefore were 
absolutely fixed and motionless, unchangeable, eternal. 
Careful observations have shown that not only are 
they not "fixed" but that they whirl through space in 
all directions, with a velocity far greater than the 
swiftest of the planets,^ and further that far from 
being unchangeable and eternal, they have had their 
beginning, and will at some indeterminately remote age 
reach their end. 

Flowers of the sky! ye too, to age must yield, 
Frail as your silken sisters of the field. 

Erasmus Darwin. 

Yet so distant are they, that, as nearly as the unaided 
eye can judge, they remain in the same relative posi- 
tions from age to age. Hence the casual observer of 
to-day sees them about as the Egyptians saw them when 
building their pyramids (Plate II) long centuries ago. 
As another has well said, they watched the earth grow fit 
for man long before man came, and they will doubtless 
be shining on, after the human race itself has disap- 
peared from the surface of the planet. 

' According to recent spectroscopic observations made at Lick Obser- 
vatory, it has been found that stars in the early stages of their existence 
travel slowly through space, and that their speed increases with their 
development. 




Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y. 

Plate II. The Great Pyramid of Cheops 

(From the south-east) 



I 



General Remarks 17 

In passing it may be remarked that quite often stars 
which seem to be neighbours in the sky, and to form 
definite configurations, have no real connection after 
all. Some are many times as far away as others, and 
they only seem nearer because they are nearly in line 
with one another. 

The actual motion of a star over the face of the sky, 
that is to say across the line of vision, is technically 
known as "proper motion." A star that is moving 
directly towards or away from the earth has no proper 
motion, since it does not alter its position on the face 
of the sky. In measuring the proper or cross motion 
of a star, the measurement taken is only of that portion 
of the motion which is across the line of vision, and can 
be determined by the telescope. Motion which is in 
the direction of the line of vision, technically called 
"motion in the line of sight" — "radial velocity" 
(vitesse radiale) — hitherto unascertainable by micro- 
metrical measures with an ordinary telescope, is readily 
detected by Doppler*s method of spectrum observation. 

The proper or cross motions of over ten thousand 
stars have been measured, the first being made out by 
Halley in 1718, their mean rate being, according to 
Campbell, twenty- one miles a second. The swiftest 
known star, a champion racer, is an inconspicuous, 
eighth-magnitude star in the constellation Pictor in 
the southern hemisphere. The next swiftest is a sixth- 
magnitude star, just about the limit of ordinary visi- 
bility, in the constellation of the Great Bear, known as 
No. 1830, in Groombridge's catalogue of circumpolar 
stars. Its speed is estimated to be 185 miles a second, 
or six hundred times faster than a cannon-ball flies. 
In the course of a century it would move over a space 
equal to a third of the diameter of the full moon, and 



i8 The Call of the Stars 

in 185,000 years would complete a circuit of the whole 
sky. It is about ten times as far away as Alpha Cen- 
tauri, and has sometimes been styled the "Runaway 
Star." 

Arcturus in the constellation Bootes, the Bear Driver, 
which also has a large proper or cross motion, is travelling 
with great rapidity toward the south-south-west, and 
has advanced its position a degree or more since the 
beginning of the Christian Era. 

The pace of one of the earth's nearer neighbours in 
space, 61 Cygni, is 49I miles a second, while Mu, a 
fifth-magnitude star in Cassiopeia, is rushing on at 
the rate of ninety-eight miles in the same time. 

The sun, itself a fixed star, carrying along with it 
the whole solar system, is advancing at the rapid rate 
of thirteen miles a second towards the fourth-magnitude 
star Delta in the middle of the Harp, Lyra. Since 
the time of Adam the sun has, as Serviss states, led his 
whole cortege of planets and their satellites through 
the wastes of space no less than 225,000,000,000 miles. 
Meditating on the star- strewn heavens, the observer 
may well exclaim with one of old : 

When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, 
The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 
What is man, that thou are mindful of him? 
And the son of man, that thou visitest him? 

Psalms viii., 3. 

There are grounds for assimiing that the proper or 
cross motions of some of the stars have, in the lapse of 
time, produced marked changes in their brightness, as 
instanced by the cases of Castor and Pollux. In old 
catalogues Castor was lettered Alpha and Pollux Beta, 



General Remarks 19 

but to-day Pollux stands first, being much the brighter 
of the two. 

Then, too, it has been observed that in a number of 
instances proper or cross motions of stars appear to 
take place in groups — a phenomenon known as ''star- 
drift," and the stars as "migrating stars." Many of 
the stars composing the well-known silvery cluster the 
Pleiades appear to be drifting through space in the 
same direction, like a flock of birds, a few somewhat 
in advance of the rest. Four of the stars forming the 
W-shaped figure in Cassiopeia, namely Beta, Alpha, 
Delta, and Epsilon, are moving in an easterly direction 
and at different speeds, while the fifth star. Gamma, is 
moving westward. Beta's motion is apparently more 
rapid than that of the others. And further, five of the 
stars which make up the striking figure of the capital 
letter V in the Hyades, are moving in a northerly 
direction, while two others of the cluster are moving 
eastward. Aldebaran, the chief star of the cluster and 
the lucida of Taurus, is apparently the most affected 
by the easterly motion, land will, as the ages pass, 
inevitably drift away from its present companions. 

The seven principal stars of the beautiful Northern 
Crown, which are arranged in a semicircle, and outline 
a perfect crown, have movements in three directions 
at right angles to one another. They must in conse- 
quence eventually drift apart, and in the lapse of time 
the beautiful figure will have dissolved. Five of the 
seven stars composing The Dipper are moving in one 
direction, while the other two — the star at the end of 
the handle and that one of the "pointers" which is 
nearer the pole star — are moving in almost an opposite 
direction. They are between ninety and one hundred 
light years distant and are travelling at about the same 



20 The Call of the Stars 

rate of speed, eighteen miles a second. Thousands of 
years hence, the aspect of The Dipper will have com- 
pletely changed; the handle will have become somewhat 
extended and bent, and the bowl more or less distorted. 
Flammarion even goes so far as to say that fifty thou- 
sand years ago, it had the form of the Swastika cross, — 
the oldest cross and symbol in the world, — and that 
fifty thousand years hence it will resemble an exag- 
gerated steamer chair. So too, in the lapse of time, by 
reason of the stars* proper or cross motion, the most 
beautiful constellation Orion will have undergone 
marked alteration in the grouping of its stars. Event- 
ually it may even become merged with the constel- 
lations Taurus and Canis Major, into one immense 
star-group. And, again, some astronomers, including 
Professor Kapteyn of Groningen, the distinguished 
Dutch astronomer, have suggested, that a large part of 
the visible universe is occupied by two vast streams 
or drifts of stars moving in nearly opposite directions, 
the supposed line of approach of the intersecting 
streams — one travelling at the rate of seventeen miles 
a second, and the other at the rate of five miles a 
second — being that joining the sun and Xi Orionis, 
and lying nearly in the plane of the Milky Way. The 
whole heavens, forsooth, are in rapid transit, and their 
dislocation is but a question of time. 

Investigations into the motions of the larger stars 
advancing towards or moving from the solar system 
have shown that Sirius the Dog Star, or, as it has been 
humorously termed the "sky terrier," the leading star 
in the constellation of the Greater Dog, is approaching 
at the rate of five miles a second ; Vega in the constella- 
tion of the Lyre, at nine; Arcturus in the constellation 
of the Bear Driver, at three; Altair in the constellation of 



General Remarks 5i 

the Flying Eagle, at 20J ; and the bright star Procyon 
in the constellation of the Lesser Dog, at 2 J miles a 
second. Whilst the red star Aldebaran in the constel- 
lation of the great Bull is receding at the rate of 
thirty-four miles a second ; Capella the leading brilliant 
in the constellation of the Charioteer, at 18 J; Rigel 
in the constellation of the Mighty Hunter Orion, at 
thirty; Castor in the constellation of the Twins, at 
four; and Pollux, in the same constellation, at two 
miles a second. It will thus be noticed that while the 
twin brethren, Castor and Pollux, have been standing 
apparently side by side, with their feet in the Milky 
Way, for over forty centuries, they have actually been 
drifting apart at the rate of over seven thousand miles 
an hour. Despite their rapid flight, so remote are 
they that their position with regard to each other, as 
far as the human eye can judge, has not undergone any 
sensible change. They still maintain their fraternal 
relationship, and are apparently as much the Heavenly 
Twins to-day, as they were in the time of Homer and 
Hesiod (800 B.C.). 

From the earliest times the stars, which to each 
succeeding age have been a beauty and a mystery, 
have been divided up into groups known as "constella- 
tions." The men of old saw in these groupings, which 
were extremely irregular in size and shape, the figures 
of persons, animals, and other objects, fixed on the 
purple walls of the sky, and naturally called the con- 
stellations after them. The practice of giving names 
and shapes to the star- groups, in which imagination 
was a most potent factor, is generally supposed to have 
originated on the Euphrates. A few of the groupings 
bear vague resemblance to the objects from which 
they are named, but in the majority of instances the 



22 The Call of the Stars 

likeness is purely fanciful. Many of the constellations 
appear to have been invented for the purpose of immor- 
talising the heroes, heroines, and fabled beasts of 
mythological lore. Imperfect as they are, the old 
pictures and groupings are still retained, not only for 
convenience in finding the individual stars, but also 
on account of the confusion that would arise were 
they now abandoned. Besides, they are of too much 
historical value to admit of their ever being discarded. 

And thus the stars 
At once took names, and rise familiar now. 

EUDOXUS. 

Quoting from Burr's tribute in The Stars of God: 
"Celestial antiquities, we salute you, and through you 
most reverently that Ancient of Days from whom you 
come and on whose errands you go." 

The earliest description of the sky on record is 
contained in the ^atvo^isva, a celebrated astronomi- 
cal poem, by Aratus of Soli (271 B.C.), cotut physician 
to Antigonus Gonatas, King of Macedonia. It con- 
sisted of 732 verses, and was a versification of the 
prose work of Eudoxus of Cnidus in Asia Minor, 
which was based upon observations of the heavens 
made probably by Chaldean astronomers fifteen 
centuries before. It may here be of interest to note 
that Aratus is the poet referred to by St. Paul, 
when in his sermon on Mars Hill, he tells the novelty- 
loving Athenians (Acts xvii., 2^), that "certain also 
of your own poets have said, For we are also His 
offspring" (fifth line of the ^aivo^eva). 

A word may be said here concerning duplication of 
stellar figures, which is, as mentioned by Olcott, not 
uncommon. In many cases two figures are found in 



General Remarks 23 

close proximity, as, for instance, the figures of two 
Bears, two Dogs, two Fishes, two Lions, etc. Then 
again, there are two Crowns, two Streams, two Goats, 
as well as several Serpents, Giants, and Birds. And 
further, many of the constellations, it will be noticed, 
are closely connected with neighbouring figures, as, for 
instance, the gallant Perseus with upraised sword rush- 
ing to the rescue of the fair Andromeda, the Mighty 
Hunter with his starry club threatening the advancing 
Bull, the Scorpion attempting to sting Ophiuchus as he 
is crushing the Serpent in his hands, Aquarius pouring 
water from an urn into the mouth of the Southern Fish, 
and the wonderful Archer forever aiming a shaft at 
the heart of the famous ''Stinger," the reputed slayer 
of Orion. Then, too, the Herdsman's hounds are ob- 
served following and harassing the Great Bear, the 
Water-Snake pursuing the Lesser Dog, and the timid 
Hare fleeing before the Dogs of Orion; while in the 
so-called great celestial sea, numerous marine creatures 
are seen, such as the Whale, the Dolphin, the Fishes, 
the Sea-Goat, the Crane, and the Southern Fish. 

The number of constellations formed by the ancients 
is forty-eight, while about forty have since been added. 
Of these, sixty-seven are now recognised as in ordinary 
use. Fifty-eight of the more noticeable ones are em- 
braced in this book. Twelve of them follow one another 
along the ecliptic and bear the same names as its signs. 
The names of the different constellations will be found 
on the charts, where also, it will be observed, the more 
important stars of a constellation have been linked up 
by dotted lines. 

Owing to the yearly motion of the earth around the 
sun, the stars rise and set nearly four minutes (3m. 56s.) 
earlier each successive evening, and thus, roughly 



24 The Call of the Stars 

speaking, they are always * * four minutes fast/ * Besides, 
the sun appears to gain steadily upon the stars, so that 
stars seen in the south at one time of the year, because 
they are opposite the sun, are invisible six months 
later on account of the brightness of the sunlight. It 
will thus be noticed that as four minutes of time 
correspond to one degree of space measured on the face 
of the sky, the aspect of the heavens changes from night 
to night by reason of the shifting of the constellations 
about one degree westward every twenty-four hours. 
And further, that in the course of a year the revolution 
is completed and the stars are observed in precisely 
the same places they occupied a year before. Thus 
the stars that are seen on summer nights this year will 
be seen on summer nights next year, and the year after, 
and for ages to come. 

About one hundred of the brighter stars have received 
individual names. Many of the first-magnitude stars 
have proper names of Greek or Latin origin, while some 
are Arabic. Most of the smaller ones have Arabic 
names. Then, too, the chief stars in any constellation 
are designated by the small letters of the Greek alpha- 
bet. Thus the best star in Cygnus, the Swan, is a 
Cygni — the Alpha star of the constellation Cygnus; 
the next ^ Cygni, and so on. 

The brightest stars are usually spoken of by their 
individual names, but the less important stars are 
referred to by either their proper or family names; as 
Alpheratz or a Andromedas, Caph or ^ Cassiopeiae, 
Hamal or a Arietis. 

And again, the stars are designated by a system of 
numbers, such as Flamsteed assigned, arranged usually 
in the order of right ascension, without regard to their 
brilliancy. 



General Remarks 25 

The general practice among astronomers of to-day 
has been to identify the stars that bestrew the sky, not 
so much by their names as by their numbers in some 
well-known star-catalogue of their positions in right 
ascension' and declination, corresponding to terrestrial 
longitude and latitude. But for the ordinary observer, 
it may be said, that an intimate acquaintance with 
constellation figures and stellar names will have much 
more of interest than ordinarily attaches to a technical 
description by star numbers. The statement that a 
star is situated right ascension 5 hrs. 50 m. 30.94 s., 
north declination 7° 23' 30.83" (mean place Jan. 0.49 
day 1 9 14), is enough perhaps for the professional 
astronomer; but for most people, if not for all, it is 
better to call it Betelgeux in the constellation of 
Orion. 

Of the several imaginary great circles considered by 
astronomers as drawn in the heavens, one very con- 
venient circle of reference is the ecliptic. It is the great 
circle indicating the apparent annual path of the sun 
eastward among the stars; the extension outward to 
the starry sphere of the plane in which the earth moves 
round the sun. Astronomically speaking it is as de- 
finite a circle or line as is the horizon, and is called 
the ecliptic because eclipses can happen only when the 
moon is on or very near that curved line. It is inclined 
to the celestial equator or equinoctial, which is a projec- 
tion of the terrestrial equator extended toward the stars, 
at an angle of about 23^°. Milton accounts for the 

' Celestial longitude, as distinguished from right ascension, is distance 
from the vernal equinox, reckoned eastward, along the ecliptic ^ and is 
expressed in degrees instead of hours. Celestial latitude, as distinguished 
from declination, is distance north or south of the ecliptic. For most 
purposes, it may be said that equatorial and polar measurements are 
the most convenient. 



26 The Call of the Stars 

obliquity, as if by direct interposition of the Creator, 
thus: 

Some say he bids his angels turn askance 
The poles of earth twice ten degrees or more 
From the sun's axle; they with labour push'd 
Oblique the centric globe; some say, the sun 
Was bid turn reins from th' equinoctial road 
Like distant breadth to Taurus with the seven 
Atlantic Sisters, and the Spartan Twins, 
Up to the Tropic Crab ; thence down amain 
By Leo and the Virgin, and the Scales, 
As deep as Capricorn, to bring in change 
Of seasons to each clime. 

The crossing points of the celestial equator and the 
ecliptic, dining the year, are respectively the vernal 
and the autumnal equinox, while the points midway 
between these, where the tropics touch the ecliptic, 
are respectively the summer and winter solstice. The 
line of the ecHptic is north of the equator from the ver- 
nal to the autumnal equinox, and south of it from the 
autumnal back to the vernal equinox. 

There is, furthermore, an imaginary zone or belt 
encircling the heavens, extending about eight degrees 
above and below the ecliptic, called the zodiac. It is 
of very great antiquity, having originated, it is com- 
monly believed, in archaic Euphratean astronomy. 
It is called the zodiac because the constellations in it, 
with the exception of Libra, are all figures of animals. 
By some it has been htmiorously styled the "zoological 
garden of the sky." It is the area or space within which 
the sun, moon, and all the planetary bodies, except some 
of the planetoids, appear to perform their annual 
revolutions. 



General Remarks 27 

At an early date the ecliptic and consequently the 
zodiac was divided into twelve parts of thirty de- 
grees each, called signs of the zodiac, referred to in 
the Book of Job, seventeen centuries before the 
Christian Era, under the name of Mazzaroth, along 
with the Pleiades, Orion and the Bear. Each of 
these signs coincided roughly with a constellation 
after which it was named, and has retained its sym- 
bolic title to this day. The twelve zodiacal con- 
stellations are believed to be the ones spoken of in 
the astronomical Psalm — the xixth — as being "a 
tabernacle for the sun." 

It is perhaps of interest to note that early in the 
eighth century, the Venerable Bede, an eminent his- 
torian of the early English church, endeavoured 
to substitute eleven of the apostles for the early 
signs, Peter taking the place of the Ram, and John 
the Baptist appropriately taking that of Aquarius 
to complete the circle. Also, that in the seven- 
teenth century the astronomers Bartsch and Schiller 
both endeavoured to substitute the Apostles for 
these time-honoured zodiacal figures, while Sir William 
Drummond vainly tried to turn them into a dozen 
Bible patriarchs. And further, that Weigel of the 
University of Jena proposed that a series of heraldic 
constellations be formed, the zodiac being composed 
of the arms of the twelve foremost families of Europe. 
It is unnecessary, perhaps, to state that all these at- 
tempts to displace the old and popular constellation 
names failed utterly. 

The names of the twelve signs of the zodiac beginning 
at the vernal equinox and passing eastward are familiar 
to everyone from the well-known English memory 
verse: 



28 The Call of the Stars 

The Ram, the Bull, the Heavenly Twins, 
And next the Crab, the Lion shines, 
The Virgin and the Scales. 
The Scorpion, the Archer, and Sea-Goat, 
The Man that pours the Water out 
And Fish with glittering tails. 

The spring signs are Aries, Taurus, and Gemini; 
the summer signs are Cancer, Leo, and Virgo; the 
autumn signs are Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius; and 
the winter signs are Capricomus, Aquarius, and Pisces. 

The motion of the north celestial pole around that 
of the ecliptic occasioned by the attraction of the sun 
and moon upon the earth at the equator — the position 
of the celestial poles being dependent upon that of the 
earth's poles — causes what is known as the Precession 
rf the Equinoxes. This phenomenon, discovered by Hip- 
parchus, the father of observational astronomy, while a^ 
work on his celebrated catalogue two thousand years 
ago, is the slow westward movement of the equinoxes 
along the ecliptic, at the rate of about fifty seconds a 
year, one degree in seventy- two years, or a sign in 
2150 years. At the time the constellations were named 
the equinoctial points were in the constellations Aries 
and Libra, but by reason of the precession of the equi- 
noxes they have retrograded nearly a whole sign, and 
are now in the constellations Pisces and Virgo. Hence, 
while the vernal equinox, sometimes called the "Green- 
wich of the Sky," the passage of the sun through which 
betokens the opening of spring, is in the sign Aries, this 
sign now corresponds to the constellation Pisces, and 
will soon pass to Aquarius. The name, "first point of 
Aries,'* is, however, still appHed to it by time-honoured 
usage. In a period of about 25,800 years, the equinox 




Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y. 

Plate III. The Long Slant Passage of the Great Pyramid 



General Remarks 29 

ought to have visited all the constellations of the zodiac, 
and the signs should have backed entirely round the 
circle of the ecliptic. 

Another effect of this gyratory motion of the north 
celestial pole — like that of some mighty top — around 
that of the ecliptic, describing a circle whose radius is 
232 degrees, is a change in the pole star. The star 
Polaris, the most observed of all stars, long known as 
the North Star, will not always hold this post of honour. 
It is now about is degrees from the true pole, around 
which, notwithstanding it seems stationary in the 
heavens, it describes a small but appreciable circle. 
This distance will gradually diminish until about the 
year 2100, when it will be less than half a degree, after 
which Polaris will slowly recede from the pole. In about 
5600 years, Alderamin or Alpha Cephei will occupy the 
position of pole star; in seven thousand years the fine 
and comparatively young star Deneb or Alpha Cygni; 
and in 11,500 years the brilliant star Vega. It may 
not be without interest to note, that when Vega be- 
comes the north polar-star, the brilliant Canopus — 
Mohammed's star — in the southern constellation Argo 
Navis will be sufficiently near the southern pole of the 
heavens to serve as a south polar-star. 

Some forty centuries ago, Thuban was the pole star, 
to better view which, the slant northward-pointing 
passage in the Pyramid of Cheops is supposed to have 
been built (Plate III.). In about twenty-one thousand 
years it will again mark the pole of the heavens, and 
be succeeded once more in office by Polaris, the entire 
period of revolution being about 25,800 years. 

Note. — The three pyramids of Gizeh — the Pyramid 
of Cheops, the pyramid of Chephren (Cheops' brother), 
and the pyramid of Mycerinus (Cheops' son) — are situ- 



30 The Call of the Stars 

ated near the western bank of the Nile about eight 
miles from Cairo, in latitude 29° 58' 51". They stand, 
not far apart, on a line from north-east to south-west, 
on an elevated plateau of four himdred acres, about 150 
feet above the level of the desert. Nearby is the Great 
Sphinx carved out of a knob of natural rock, and re- 
cently discovered to be hollow, the body representing 
the body of a lion, and the head a portrait of Pharaoh 
Chephren. North and south are groups of pyramids, 
temples, and tombs, while to the westward stretches the 
vast Libyan Desert. 

The Great Pyramid of Cheops (Plate II.), sometimes 
known as the East Pyramid, is situated on a platform 
of rock, close to the verge of the elevated plateau, and 
covers nearly thirteen acres. Its four sides face the 
cardinal points of the compass. It is now about 450 
feet high, and its square base measures 746 feet on a 
side. The steps, which are said to number 208, are 
about the height of an average table. The only en- 
trance (as in most of the pyramids) is on the northern 
face, about 50 feet above the ground. The entrance 
passage of 32 by 4 feet, slants at an angle of 26° 41', 
and leads down this steep incline through the solid rock 
for a distance of about 380 feet, to a small subterranean 
chamber, 96 feet underground. When viewed from 
the bottom of the tunnel the mouth appears but little 
larger than the moon*s apparent diameter. The 
observer within looking out of the tunnel is about in 
line with the pole star, and it is commonly supposed 
that the object for which the tunnel was built, was to 
enable the Egyptian astronomer-priests to better 
observe the pole star of Cheops' time, when at its 
lower culmination. 

After penetrating over 60 feet within the pyramid 



General Remarks 31 

the entrance passage connects with an ascending branch 
passage, about no feet long, at an angle of 26°, leading 
to a landing from which lead two passages. One pas- 
sage about 126 feet long, running horizontal, connects 
with the queen's chamber (17 by 19 feet, and 20 feet 
high), which is almost in the centre of the pyramid, 67 
feet above its base. The other passage leads upwards, 
and opens into a grand gallery 28 feet high, 7 feet 
wide, and 162 feet long, which opens into the several 
chambers composing the royal sepulchre. 

The king's chamber, which is built in the axis of the 
pyramid, 131 feet above the ground, is a plain bare 
room, thirty-four feet long, sixteen feet wide, and twenty 
feet high, lined with highly polished red granite. It 
contains only an empty sarcophagus of red granite, 
the mummy of the king and the funeral equipment 
having disappeared when the pyramids were ruthlessly 
opened and plimdered by the Arabs. 



CHAPTER II 

THE NIGHT-SKY OF SPRING 

Roll on, ye Stars! exult in youthful prime, 

Mark with bright curves the printless steps of time. 

Erasmus Darwin. 

In the onward procession of the year, from equinox 
to equinox, each of the seasons has its own characteristic 
groups of stars. The constellations Leo, Virgo, and 
Bootes, that foreshadow the advent of spring, are as 
much a part of the vernal season as are the earliest 
verdure, the buds, the blossoms, and the birds. Their 
stars have an entirely different individuality from those 
stellar gems that shone resplendent in the winter sky, 
or from those softly glowing stars that herald the near 
approach of gay summer, when, in the words of eloquent 
Serviss, "the starlight falls without a ripple in the languid 
air." 

There is in fact, it may be observed, a spring sky, a 
summer sky, an autumn sky, and a winter sky, each 
possessing a charm and interest peculiarly its own. 
Longfellow was doubtless thinking of the flowery 
spring-time when in Evangeline he wrote : 

Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, 
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the 
angels. 

32 



CHART 
FOR ABOUT MAR. 20 TH 

(T?ie Vernal £(fuinox J 

9^5 PM 



MAR. I, II P.I 
MARIS. 10 P.M. 
APR. I, 9 P.M. 

APR. IS, 8P.M. 

MAY I, 7PM. 




StarMsPnitudes 
O O ♦ ♦ \ 

r 2"^ a*!- V^teB'^fandundtrl 



THE 20DIACALBAN0 

EXTENDS 8* ON EACH 

SIDE OFTHE ECLIPTIC. 



CHART 1- SPRING OTGHT SKT 



The Night-Sky of Spring 33 

It makes no difference at what calendar record 
the year commences; so far as the seasons and 
constellations are concerned, it begins when the 
trees begin to bud, the grass to grow, and the earth 
wakens out of its winter sleep. So following nature's 
rule in the succession of the seasons, as well as an 
old English custom abandoned since the middle of 
the 1 8th century, the opening of the year, for the 
purposes of this book at least, will be reckoned as 
taking place when the sun transits the equator 
about the 21st of March — the epoch of the vernal 
equinox — instead of on the 1st of January, as fixed by 
statute. 

The return of spring and the annual rejuvenation 
of earth have been hailed with delight in all ages of 
the world. The kingly poet sang thus alluringly 
of it: 

For, lo, the winter is past, 

The rain is over and gone ; 

The flowers appear on the earth ; 

The time of the singing of birds is come. 

Solomon's Song ii., 11 -12. 

In Persia it has been celebrated for some six thousand 
years by the "Feast of Novrooz," as a time for general 
rejoicing, first observed by Jamshyd, the fourth king 
of the Pishdadian dynasty, whose glory was sung by 
Sor-adi and Omar Khayyam. Then, too, it was in the 
spring-time of creation that the morning stars sang 
together, and the sons of God shouted for joy. It was 
spring when Pippa, from the silk mills, passed with her 
lilting carol — a New Year's day at Asolo in the Trevisan, 
but spring here: 



34 The Call of the Stars 

The year's at the spring 
And day's at the morn; 
Morning's at seven; 
The hillside's dew-pearled; 
The lark's on the wing; 
The snail's on the thorn: 
God's in his heaven — 
All's right with the world! 

Robert Browning. 

The aspect of the night-sky at the various seasons 
of the year is represented on the four charts in the 
body of the book, which also in their entirety trace 
the annual course of the stars and constellations. The 
relative positions of the celestial equator, the ecliptic, 
and the horizon, as also of the equinoctial and solstitial 
points, are all shown on the charts. 

Chart I represents the appearance of the night-sky 
at about 9:45 p.m. on the 20th of March, about 
11:00 P.M. on the 1st of March, 9:00 p.m. on the ist 
of April, 8:00 P.M. on the 15th of April, and about 
7:00 P.M. on the 1st of May. Then, too, a change 
of several days, either forward or backward from the 
dates here given, alters but little the correspondence 
of the chart with the sky at the hours stated. For, as 
noted in the previous chapter, the stars rise not quite 
four minutes earlier each evening, and so the daily 
westward shift of the entire sky measures but a degree. 
And, further, the chart is equally applicable at other 
night-hours in subsequent months of the year, allowing 
always that the alteration in the position of the stars 
amoimts in a month to two hours. The same statement 
may be made relative to each chart. 

In matching the charts with the sky, it should be 
remembered that the centre of the chart corresponds 



The Night-Sky of Spring 35 

to the zenith (the point directly overhead), and the 
outline of the chart represents the natural horizon. 
Also that the observer is supposed to be facing north 
or south along the meridian, which is an imaginary 
circle on the celestial sphere, drawn through the zenith 
and the celestial poles. A star or other celestial body 
when crossing the meridian is equidistant from its 
rising and setting points, and is said to be at the point 
of culmination. Two culminations take place daily, 
one above and the other below the pole. The former 
is called the upper, and the latter the lower culmination. 
The upper culmination of the sun occurs at noon or 
mid-day, apparent solar time, and that of the full moon 
at midnight. And again, a star is said to transit when 
it crosses the meridian. Every star transits due north 
or south. -When stars transit together or within a few 
minutes of each other, they are known as "simul- 
transit " stars. In this connection it may be mentioned 
that it is when the stars are on the meridian that they 
are in the most favourable position for observation 
and identification. 

The observer, whether facing south or north, should 
hold the chart over the head, remembering always to 
have its north, south, east, and west points properly 
placed. An easy general view of the heavens may be 
obtained by lying on the back with the head to the 
north, when the sky ma}^ be readily compared with the 
chart held overhead. Then again, as suggested by 
Serviss, a mirror held on the lap will be found a great 
convenience in studying the constellations which are 
almost or directly overhead. 

About the only outfit the sky-student really requires 
to view the sky, is the proper chart, a pocket electric 
fiash-Hght with which to examine the chart, and perhaps 




36 The Call of the Stars 

a good, strong opera-glass, or field-glass, or a small 
telescope. There may be times, however, when a pocket 
compass will prove of service in indicating where true 

north is. To man}^, a revolv- 
ing planisphere, such as the 
Barritt-Serviss Star and 
Planet Finder (Fig. i), may- 
be found useful. 

The beginner is apt to be 
somewhat confused, at first, 
by the planets or "wander- 
ing" stars, which move about 

Fig. I. The^Barritt-Serviss ^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^- 
Star and Planet Finder. stellations. He Will, how- 

ever, soon come to know them 
by their greater apparent size, their peculiar movements, 
and their tranquil light. The dull red-yellow glare of 
Saturn, the soft luminosity of Venus, the steady bril- 
liance of Jupiter, the bright ruddy light of Mars, and 
the rosy lustre of elusive little Mercury, serve to easily 
distinguish them from the fixed stars. 

Ursa Major 

(The Greater Bear) 

If the observer is viewing the vernal sky at about lO :oo 
P.M. on the 20th of March, 9:00 p.m. the first week of 
April, or 8:00 p.m. the middle of April, he will notice 
in the northern central portion of the heavens the best 
known and most important of the constellations, Ursa 
Major, the Greater Bear. And it requires no great 
effort of imagination to see the monstrous beast striding 
westward across the sky, with Bootes and his hounds 
in perpetual pursuit. It is easily recognisable by its 



The Night-Sky of Spring 37 

seven principal stars, six of which are of the second 
magnitude, and one of the third, which when linked 
together form the remarkable figure familiarly known 
as The Dipper, or the Big Dipper. It is always, either 
wholly or partly, above the horizon at and north of 
the latitudes of New York and Chicago, and can, 
along with the other circumpolar constellations, Draco, 
Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Camelopardalis, and Ursa Minor, 
be seen on any clear night throughout the year, re- 
volving close to the pole star. 

. . . round and round the frozen Pole 
Glideth the lean white bear. 

R. W. Buchanan. 

That the stars in these circumpolar constellations 
are not seen by day, is simply due to the fact that the 
sun-light blots them out. 

In The Ancient Sage, Tennyson alludes to them as 

. . . some that never set, but pass 

From sight and night to lose themselves in day. 

Ursa Major contains over one hundred and thirty 
visible stars, of which six are of the second magnitude, 
eleven of the third, and a number of the fourth and 
fifth, while twenty of the brightest have received indi- 
vidual names. It extends over a considerable portion 
of the northern sky, a little less than one quarter of its 
space being occupied by The Dipper. It is bounded 
on the north by Draco and Camelopardalis, on the east 
by Canes Venatici, on the south by Leo Minor, and on 
the west by Lynx and Camelopardalis. 

The figure of the bowl of the dipper marks the flank 
of the Bear, and its handle, which is about twelve 



38 The Call of the Stars 

degrees in length, represents its "impossible" tail. 
The stars Alpha and Beta Urss Majoris, commonly 
known as Dubhe and Merak, the two stars which form 
the front edge of the bowl, are the most popular of the 
seven stars of The Dipper. They are often called 
''pointers," because they are almost directly in line 
with Polaris, a second-magnitude star at the tip of the 
Lesser Bear's tail, which marks with fair accuracy the 
north pole. It is said that Tennyson's sight was so 
short that, without optical aid, they appeared to him 
as ''two intersecting circles, like the first proposition in 
Euclid." 

The distance between the pointers is about five de- 
grees, hence they may be advantageously employed by 
the observer as a rough measuring stick with which to 
estimate celestial distances. The distance from Dubhe 
to the pole star is about five times that between it and 
its associate pointer Merak. The distance between 
the two stars Dubhe and Megrez in the brim of the bowl 
of the Dipper is about ten degrees. It may here be 
of interest to note that there are three standards of 
measurement provided in the heavens. The length of 
the belt of Orion is three degrees; the distance from 
Merak to Dubhe is five degrees ; and the average ap- 
parent diameter of the moon is half a degree. Then, 
too, any object that appears half a degree in diameter 
is about 114 times its own height or breadth, away. 

The set of bright stars that form The Dipper has 
been long associated in name with other objects to 
which it seems to bear some resemblance. In Eng- 
land, it is generally styled the "Plough," or at times 
"Charles's Wain" from its fancied resemblance to a 
waggon drawn by three horses tandem. The early 
Christians regarded it as the "Bier of Lazarus," the 



The Night-Sky of Spring 39 

three stars in the tail of the Bear, representing Mary, 
Martha, and Mary Magdalene. The people of the far 
north, the Eskimos, imagined it to be a reindeer; while 
to the Druids it was known as "Arthur's Chariot." 

Sir Walter Scott thus alludes to it in the Lay of the 
Last Minstrel: 

Arthur's slow wain his course doth roll 
In utter darkness round the pole. 

It is quite likely that this group of stars, and not 
Arcturus, the leading brilliant in Bootes, is what is 
referred to in one of the questions which the Lord 
addressed to Job out of the whirlwind: 

Cans't thou guide Arcturus with his sons ? 

As translated in the Revised Version the passage reads: 

Cans't thou guide the Bear with her train? 

The four stars making the bowl of the dipper, it has 
been thought, represent the Bear, and the three handle 
stars, the cubs following in her train. 

According to legend the Greater Bear was Callisto 
or Helice, a nymph, the daughter of Lycaon, King of 
Arcadia, who, by reason of her beauty, incurred the 
jealous wrath of Juno, the queen of heaven. Jupiter, 
to protect Callisto, who was Juno's attendant, from 
injury at the hands of her mistress, transformed her 
into a bear. Areas, Callisto's son by Jupiter, when out 
hunting, not recognising his mother, was about to slay 
her with his uplifted spear, when Jupiter, in pity, changed 
him into a little bear (Ursa Minor), and placed him 
and his mother among the stars. In Addison's transla- 
tion of Ovid's Metamorphoses J it is stated that Jove 



40 The Call of the Stars 

snatched them through the air 
In whirlwinds up to heaven and fixed them there: 
Where the new constellations nightly rise, 
And add a lustre to the northern skies. 

It is further related by an old writer, Dr. Thomas 
Hood, that as Jupiter swung the bears up into the sky, 
their tails stretched, and the abnormal length of these 
most un-ursine appendages is thus happily accounted 
for. 

The Bear, which possesses many interesting features, 
will be found a great help in locating adjacent constel- 
lations, and has been long important as marking the 
seasons. In spring evenings the seven stars forming 
The Dipper, which, it is said, exceed the sun in brilliancy 
from thirty to one hundred and twenty times, are al- 
most directly overhead, with the handle of the dipper 
pointing towards the east. In summer evenings they 
are in the north-west, with the handle pointing upwards. 
In autumn evenings they are low down on the north 
horizon, with the handle pointing towards the west; 
while in winter evenings they are seen toward the 
north-east, with the handle pointing downward. On 
March 2ist, the simul- transit pair of stars, Merak and 
Dubhe, transit — that is, cross the meridian — at about 
II :oo P.M., and at about ii :oo a.m., at lower culmina- 
tion, on September 22d. 

The Dipper swings with a slow revolving motion in 
a direction contrary to the hands of a clock, right 
around the pole every twenty-four hours, and in early 
times served as a sort of celestial timepiece, requiring 
neither winding nor repairing. During the period 
between twilight and dawn, the gigantic hour hand of 
this illuminated clock, formed by an imaginary line 



The Night-Sky of Spring 41 

drawn through the pointers to the pole star, will be 
found to have swung more than half-way round. 

Shakespeare, in King Henry IV., well illustrates its 
use as a timekeeper, when he makes the first carrier 
at the Rochester Inn yard, exclaim, as he enters with 
a lantern in his hand: 

Heigh-ho! an it be not four by the day, I'll be hanged: 
Charles* Wain is over the new chimney, and yet our horse is 
not packed! 

Tennyson in his well-known New Yearns Eve^ has a 
similar allusion: 

We danced about the Maypole, and in the hazel copse, 
Till Charles' Wain came out above the tall white chimney- 
tops. 

Dickens, in Hard Times, Book III., chap. 6, it will 
be remembered, has a scene in which the apparent 
motion of the stars from east to west every twenty -four 
hours, seems to be ignored. In his description of the 
accident to, and death of, Stephen Blackpool, a poor 
fellow who fell into a disused pit called Old Hell Shaft 
and broke his leg, he comforts the sufferer during his 
seven days and nights of agony at the bottom of the 
pit, by a beautiful star shining brightly down upon him 
unceasingly. In the unfortunate man's own words: 
"Often as I come to myseln, and found it shining on 
me down there in my trouble, I thowt it were the star 
as guided to Our Saviour's home. I awmust think it 
be the very star!'* Poor old Stephen, alas! gazing up 
through the pit-mouth, could, at best, have caught only 
a glimpse of it for a few moments as it passed across 
the zenith. 



42 The Call of the Stars 

It is said that in ancient times the mariners of Greece 
used the stars of the Greater Bear, the most beloved of 
star-groups, as their guide in navigation, while the 
Phoenicians steered by Polaris the lucida of the Lesser 
Bear. Manilius, an astronomer-poet of the century pre- 
ceding the Christian era, thus writes : 

Seven equal stars adorn the greater Bear, 
And teach the Grecian sailors how to steer. 

Homer, in the fifth book of the Odyssey (Wm. Cowper*s 
tr.), relates that Ulysses was directed by the lovely 
goddess Calypso, to 

hold the Bear, called else the Wain,' 
Continual on his left through all his course, 

that is, to steer his raft due east. 

Cardan, an astrologer-physician of the sixteenth 
century, it is said, held that particular stars influenced 
particular countries, and that the fate of the greatest 
kingdoms of Europe was determined by the tail of 
Ursa Major. Butler, in Hudihras, thus wrote: 

Cardan believed great states depend 
Upon the tip o' th' Bear's tail's end. 

The white star at the end of the "handle of The 
Dipper," or "tail of the Bear," has been designated 
Alcaid or Eta or Benetnasch, the chief of the mourners. 
It is of the second magnitude, and marks the radiant 
point of the Ursid meteors of November loth. 

Mizar or Zeta, the brilliant white star at the bend of 
the handle, and about seven degrees from Alcaid, is 
the most interesting of all the stars of The Dipper. It 
is one of the finest double stars, its companion being a 



The Night-Sky of Spring 43 

bluish telescopic star of the eighth magnitude. In a 
small telescope it is a very pretty sight. The two com- 
ponents are about 14.6 seconds of arc apart. The 
brighter component was foimd by E. C. Pickering in 
1889, by means of the spectroscope, to be itself double, 
the pair revolving about a common centre of gravity 
in a period of about twenty and a half days. Alcor, 
apparently close by, and yet distant from it by about 
one- third the apparent diameter of the moon, forms 
with it a beautiful naked-eye double and a connected 
system. These two stars are sometimes styled "the 
Horse and the Rider." Alcor, the little "Rider-Star'* 
or the "Cavalier," was in olden times regarded as a 
test for good sight. It has recently been ascertained 
to be a spectroscopic binary. 

Mizar is particularly interesting as being the first 
telescopic double ever discovered, and was also the 
first double star to be photographed, and the first star 
discovered to be again double by the spectroscope. 
Its quadruple system is about ninety-nine light years 
distant, has a proper or cross motion of eleven and a 
half miles a second, and is approaching the solar system 
at the rate of eight miles a second. 

Alioth or Epsilon, the third star in the handle, about 
four and a half degrees toward the bowl from Mizar, 
is a spectroscopic binary. It indicates very nearly 
the radiant point of the Ursid meteors of November 
30th. A few degrees south of it, and about seven 
degrees north of Cor Caroli, is a wonderful, brilliant 
red star, faintly visible to the naked eye, known as La 
Superba, which is the brightest star of its class in the 
sky. The three stars, Alcaid, Mizar, and Alioth, 
constitute the handle of the dipper. 

The pale-yellow star in the rim of the bowl at the 



44 The Call of the Stars 

junction of the handle, about five and a half degrees 
from Alioth, is called Megrez or Delta. It is the small- 
est and faintest of the seven stars of The Dipper. Both 
it and the star Caph, or Beta Cassiopeias, are in the 
equinoctial colure, nearly opposite each other, and 
about equidistant from the pole. The colures, it 
may be stated, are two imaginary great circles of the 
celestial sphere at right angles to each other: one, called 
the ecjuinoctial colure, passes through the celestial poles 
and the equinoxes ; the other, termed the solstitial colure^ 
passes through the celestial poles and the solstitial 
points. They divide the ecliptic into the four seasons 
of the year. Megrez is on the meridian at 9 p.m., 
May loth. 

The star in the bottom of the dipper, toward the 
handle, is called Phad, or Gamma. It is of a topaz- 
yellow colour, and is about four and a half degrees 
from Megrez. 

The greenish- white star in the bottom of the dipper, 
on the outer edge, about eight degrees from Phad, is 
known as Merak or Beta. It is a star of the sirian 
type, and is also a spectroscopic double. A few degrees 
from it is situated the so-called Owl Nebula (Plate IV.) 
the largest and finest of the planetary nebulas. 

Dubhe or Alpha, the yellowish star on the farther 
side of the rim, five degrees from Merak, and ten from 
Megrez, is the only star in The Dipper that is of the 
solar type. It has an eleventh-magnitude companion, 
and is the nearer of the "pointers" to the pole star. 
It was the orientation point of the temple of Hathor at 
Denderah. The four stars, Dubhe, Merak, Phad, and 
Megrez, form the bowl of the dipper, and the hind 
quarters of the Bear. 

Almost directly overhead, between "The Dipper" 



The Night-Sky of Spring 45 

and the "Sickle" of Leo, and about fifteen degrees 
apart, are the three plantigrade paws of the Bear. The 
right fore-paw and the hind-paw are each marked by 
two fairly bright stars; while a similar pair nearly in 
line with them indicates the left hind-paw. The larger 
star in the right hind-paw is of importance as being 
the first binary whose orbit was computed. The head 
of the Bear is marked by a curved row of dim stars a 
few degrees beyond the bowl of the dipper. 

Away round in the north-west is a group of stars 
known as Cassiopeia or the "Lady in the Chair." 
It is a companion to The Dipper, and is about opposite 
to it, as both swing roimd the axis of the sky. It lies 
on the course of the Milky Way, and is readily recog- 
nised by the irregular W-shaped figure formed by its 
five chief stars. Along with Cepheus, an inconspicuous 
but highly interesting group, made up of a few faint 
stars arranged somewhat in the form of the letter K, 
and the long, dim, straggling Camelopardalis, it will 
be better studied at another season. 

Ursa Minor 

(The Lesser Bear) 

Ursa Minor, the Lesser Bear, is a small constellation 
containing the north pole of the heavens, around which 
its stars apparently revolve from east to west every 
twenty-four hours. It is surrounded by Draco, Camelo- 
pardalis, Cassiopeia, and Perseus, and contains about 
thirty stars, two of which are of the second magnitude, 
one of the third, and a few of the fourth and fifth. 

Lowell in Prometheus alludes to it as 

The Bear that prowled all night about the fold 
Of the North Star. 



46 The Call of the Stars 

In the earliest ages, it was differently regarded as 
the "Little Chariot," the ''Waggon of Joseph," and the 
"Bear that David slew." By the Greeks it was called 
"Phoenice," because it was the guide of the Phoenicians 
during their excursions in the Mediterranean, and to the 
Romans it was known as "Cynosura," or "Dog's Tail.'* 

The seven principal stars of this constellation form a 
half -sized replica of The Dipper in Ursa Major, and 
hence are commonly called the Little Dipper. The 
handle, however, of this tiny dipper is turned in the 
contrary direction, and the bowl hangs nearly over the 
star Thuban in Draco, a second-magnitude star just 
above the handle of The Dipper. The lucida or Alpha 
star of Ursa Minor is a standard second-magnitude 
star at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper, or 
the end of the tail of the Lesser Bear, called Polaris, the 
north-polar star, the best known and most practically 
useful of stellar objects. Its position in the sky, about 
forty-two degrees from the horizon, or a little less than 
half way from the horizon to the zenith, is pointed out by 
the direction of the two "pointers" Merak and Dubhe 
in Ursa Major. Besides, an equilateral triangle having 
as its base the line joining either Arcturus and Regulus 
(on the right) , or Vega and Arcturus (on the right) , will 
have Polaris near its apex. Moreover, any pair of 
" simul-transit " stars are of service as pointers to the 
pole. In fact the two "pointers" in Ursa Major, 
already referred to, are merely convenient pairs of 
"simul-transit" stars, just as are Capella and Rigel, 
Pollux and Procyon, or Markab and Beta Pegasi. 
Then, too, on a line from Polaris to Mizar, about a 
degree and a fifth from the former, is situated the true 
north pole of the heavens. It is indicated on the chart 
by a small cross near to Polaris. 



The Night-Sky of Spring 47 

Sir Thomas Browne, in his Religio Medici, has the 
following quaint reference to the Pointers and Polaris: 

I know the names, and somewhat more of all the con- 
stellations in my horizon; yet I have seen a prating 
mariner, that could only name the Pointers and the North 
Star, out-talk me, and conceit himself a whole sphere 
above me. 

Polaris is a white or yellowish-white star of the 
sirian type, and is accompanied by a faint, but not 
close, ninth-magnitude companion, which is of a dull 
blue colour, and is sometimes used as a test for small 
telescopes. The primary star was found in 1899 to be 
a spectroscopic binary. Polaris is thus a triple star 
worthy of remark, and the three bodies of which it is 
composed revolve, under the influence of their mutual 
attraction, about each other. It is sixty-nine and a 
half light years distant, and has a proper or cross motion 
of two and a half miles a second. In the northern 
hemisphere it is frequently used by both astronomers 
and mariners for determining latitude ; its height in the 
sky denoting approximately the latitude of the observer. 
Until the mariner's compass came into use, it was the 
universal guide for wanderers both by land and sea. 

Bryant, in his beautiful Hymn to the North Star, thus 
refers to it: 

on thy unaltering blaze 
The half -wrecked mariner, his compass lost, 
Fixes his steady gaze, 

And steers, undoubting, to the friendly coast; 
And they who stray in perilous wastes by night, 
Are glad when thou dost shine to guide their footsteps 

right. 



48 The Call of the Stars 

The second bright star is Kochab or Beta Ursse Min- 
oris, in the outer side of the bowl of the little dipper, 
or the left shoulder of the bear. It is a reddish-coloured 
second-magnitude star, of the solar type, about as bright 
as Polaris. It is situated fifteen degrees from the pole, 
and is about twenty-five degrees distant from Alcaid, 
and twenty-four degrees from Dubhe. Its nearest 
neighbour, about three and a half degrees distant, is a 
wide double, situated at the junction of the bottom of 
the bowl with the outer side, known as Gamma, a star of 
the third magnitude. Kochab and Gamma are frequently 
alluded to as the ''Wardens" or "Guards" of the Pole. 

Shakespeare, in Othello, Act II, Scene I, thus refers 
to them: 

The wind-shak'd surge, with high and monstrous mane, 
Seems to cast water on the burning Bear, 
And quench the guards of th' ever-fixed pole. 

The star Zeta, at the root of the tail or at the junc- 
tion of the handle with the bowl, is of the fourth magni- 
tude, and the star Eta, at the back part of the bottom 
of the bowl, opposite Gamma, is of the fifth. The 
four stars in the bowl, namel}^ Beta, Gamma, Zeta, 
and Eta, it will be noticed, are respectively of the 
second, third, fourth, and fifth magnitudes, and hence 
are often used in comparing stellar magnitudes. The 
two stars in the curved-up handle, between Polaris 
and Zeta, are Delta, a greenish-tinged, fourth-magnitude 
star, and a faint star known as Epsilon. 

Leo 

(The Lion) 

High Up, near the zenith is the constellation Leo, 
one of the most beautiful and striking constellations 



^ 



The Night-Sky of Spring 49 

adorning the night-sky of spring. It is about the size 
of the Big Dipper, and is readily recognised by six 
of its principal stars which form the upright figure of a 
sickle, with its handle downward, and its blade turned 
toward the west. It is easily found when the position 
of the Greater Bear, which lies parallel to it, is known: 

Neath her hind feet as rushing on his prey, 
The lordly Lion greets the God of day. 

Aratus. 

Leo is the fifth sign in order of the zodiac, and the 
sixth and most famous of the zodiacal constellations. 
It contains over a hundred stars visible to the unaided 
eye, as well as a large number of interesting telescopic 
objects, and is bounded generally by the constellations 
Leo Minor, Cancer, and Virgo. It is represented as a 
crouching lion facing westward, the stars of the sickle, 
known as the "Sickle of Leo,*' forming the forepart of 
the animal, the hinderpart being outlined by three 
bright stars which form a triangle. The fore-paws are 
drawn up to the breast, and are represented by two 
faint stars, Psi and Omicron. 

In the Middle Ages, Leo was called one of "Daniel's 
Lions," and by astrologers was known as the "House 
of Lions." As recorded in Genesis xlix., 9, the lion 
was the symbol of the tribe of Judah, and was Judah's 
natal sign. 

According to Greek fable, it is connected with the 
story of the labours of Hercules, and is represented as 
the gigantic Lion — originally from the moon — which 
infested the Nemaean forests. It was strangled by 
Hercules, after his massy club and his arrows had 
proved unavailing, and was placed by Jupiter among 
the stars in commemoration of the exploit of his son. 



50 The Call of the Stars 

The principal star in the constellation is Regulus, 
or Alpha Leonis, the "little king," a brilliant white 
star of the sirian type and of the first magnitude. It is 
situated at the lower end of the handle of the sickle or 
"reaping-hook, " the other stars, of which, successively, 
are. Eta, Gamma, Zeta, Mu, and Epsilon. It sparkles 
near the heart of Leo, and is sometimes called "Cor 
Leonis" or the "Lion's Heart." It is about half a 
degree north of the ecliptic, and has a faint eighth- 
magnitude companion, which, as seen through a powerful 
field-glass, is of a deep blue colour. It is about ninety- 
nine light years distant, and has a proper or cross mo- 
tion of twenty-two miles a second. 

Regulus has been a famous star in all ages, and is 
one of the so-called "Lunar Stars," much used in navi- 
gation. It is of great repute among astrologers, and 
has always been looked upon as a fortunate star. It 
was the leader of the four celebrated "Royal Stars," 
or "Four Guardians of Heaven," and along with Alde- 
baran. Ant ares, and Fomalhaut, the other royal stars 
of the ancient Persian monarchy, watched over the 
four great districts of the heavens. It is visible for 
about eight months in the year, and comes to the 
meridian at 9 p.m. on April 6th. 

The sun travels through Leo from August 7th to 
September 14th, and passes close to Regulus about 
August 20th, while the moon passes near the latter 
every month, and at times occults it. The constella- 
tion is best seen from January to June. 

Denebola or Beta, another interesting star in Leo, 
is the eastmost star in the small triangle, and marks 
the tuft at the end of the lion's tail. It is a bluish 
second-magnitude star of the sirian type, almost as 
bright as Regulus, and is situated about twenty-five 



The Night-Sky of Spring 51 

degrees east of the latter, and five degrees north of the 
faint stars that form the head of Virgo. It is over 
twenty-five light years distant, and has a proper or 
cross motion of about eleven and a half miles a second. 
In its immediate vicinity are six small stars called the 
''Companions of Denebola," one of which is of the 
sixth magnitude and one of the eighth. It is five 
degrees west of the equinoctial colure, and comes to 
the meridian at 9 p.m. on May 3d. 

In astrology it was regarded as unlucky, portending 
misfortune and disgrace to all born under its influence. 

Denebola and Zosma form with Theta, a conspicuous 
triangle, and with Regulus and Gamma a large tra- 
pezium. Along with Arcturus in Bootes, Cor Caroli in 
Canes Venatici, and Spica in Virgo, it forms a great 
rhombus, the so-called "Diamond of Virgo," a striking 
figure almost fifty degrees long. 

The bright star in the Hon's shoulder and the lowest 
star in the blade of the sickle, is Algieba or Gamma, 
the second star above Regulus, and one of the most 
attractive stars in the northern heavens. It is a binary, 
or physical double, with a period, according to Doberck, 
of about four hundred and three years. The larger 
star is of a bright orange colour, and of the second 
magnitude, while the companion star is of a greenish- 
yellow hue, and of about the fourth magnitude. It is 
a star of the solar type, and is optically double even 
with an opera-glass. The radiant point of the famous 
Leonid meteors is within the curve of the blade of the 
sickle, near Gamma. 

Zosma or Delta, a coarsely triple star of the sirian 
type, Hes on the lion's back, near the tail. It is of a 
pale yellow colour, and of the third magnitude. Five 
degrees directly south of it is Theta, a third-magnitude 



52 The Call of the Stars 

star situated in the thigh of the lion. South of Zosma 
and Theta, and almost in a straight line with them, are 
a few small stars which mark one of the hind legs. 
Seven degrees south-west of Denebola, and in the lion's 
flank, is a beautiful binary star. Iota. The larger star 
of the pair is of a lemon-yellow colour, and of the fourth 
magnitude, while the companion star is of the eighth 
magnitude, and of a light blue shade. 

Five degrees north of Regulus is a fourth-magnitude 
star Eta, which forms with it the handle of the sickle. 
The third-magnitude star in the mane of the neck, and 
in the curve of the sickle, next to Gamma, is Zeta. It 
has three small companion stars, visible with a good 
opera-glass. Epsilon, a third-magnitude star in the 
cheek of the lion, has two seventh-magnitude com- 
panions, forming with it a beautiful little triangle. A 
little west of Epsilon, is Lambda, a fourth-magnitude 
star situated in the lion's open jaws. 

The very interesting variable star, lettered R, in 
the right foreleg of Leo, is remarkable for its blood-red 
appearance, and has a period of about three hundred 
and twelve days. When at its maximum of radiance 
its light is that of a fifth-magnitude star, its minimum 
being reached at about the tenth magnitude. It will 
be at its maximum about November 21, 1914. 

Leo Minor 

(The Lesser Lion) 

Leo Minor, the Lesser Lion, is a small constellation 
formed by Hevelius, in the latter part of the seventeenth 
century, out of the unformed stars scattered between 
Leo on the south and Ursa Major on the north. It 
contains no stars greater than the fourth magnitude, 
and to the Arabians was known as the Gazelle. 



The Night-Sky of Spring 53 

Hydra 

(The Water-Serpent) 

Hydra, sometimes called the Water-Snake, or the 
Water-Serpent, is a great sinuous constellation, wind- 
ing eastward and southward below Leo, Crater, Corvus, 
and Virgo, as far as Libra. It is over one hundred 
degrees in length, stretching across nearly one-third 
the circumference of the heavens. The head of the 
sparkling reptile is under the Beehive cluster in Cancer, 
just north of the celestial equator, and its tail ends near 
the bright star Gamma in the uplifted claw of Scorpio. 

The Water-Serpent's gleaming bend. 

Aratus. 

In Greek mythology, Hydra was the dreadful mon- 
ster which infested the marshes of Lema, and to destroy 
which was the second labour of Hercules. It is re- 
lated that the snake had a hundred heads, and that as 
soon as one was cut off, two immediately grew in its 
place, unless the wound was seared with a hot iron. 
Hercules, assisted by his faithful nephew lolaus, who 
applied a hot iron to the stumps as fast as the head was 
clubbed off, easily effected its destruction, burying the 
centre head, which was said to be immortal, under a 
rock. 

The head of Hydra faces westward and may be dis- 
tinguished by five stars, which form a rhomboidal 
figure, two of the stars, namely, Zeta and Epsilon, 
being of the third magnitude, and Delta of the fourth. 
Epsilon is a remarkably fine double, for a three-inch 
telescope; one component being yellow and of the 
third magnitude, the other blue and of the eighth 
magnitude. When Hydra's head is on the meridian, 



54 The Call of the Stars 

its other extremity, marked by two fifth-magnitude 
stars, is many degrees below the eastern horizon. 

The principal star in the constellation is Alphard or 
Alpha. It is situated in the heart of the serpent, and 
is known sometimes as Cor Hydras. It is a second- 
magnitude star of an orange-yellow colour and twinkles 
sluggishly. It received its Arabic name Alphard, 
meaning the "SoHtary One," from its occupying a 
district in which there are no other bright stars. Its 
position in the heavens is easily detected, first by its 
isolated position, and secondly by an imaginary line 
drawn southward through Gamma Leonis and Regulus, 
to a point about twenty-five degrees distant from the 
latter. Besides, Castor and Pollux nearly point south 
to it. It comes to the meridian at 9 P.M. on March 
26th. 

The fifty-odd remaining stars in the vast folds of this 
great wriggling serpent, range from the third to the 
fifth magnitude and under, many of them being ar- 
ranged in striking pairs, but otherwise unimportant. 

Over in the south-east, resting on the back of Hydra, 
may be seen the quadrilateral figure of the constellation 
Corvus, and about fifteen degrees west of it, the over- 
turned cup of the constellation Crater, while low down 
in the south-west, above Argo Navis, lies the unim- 
portant southern constellation Antlia, the Air-Pump. 

Corvus 

(The Crow) 

Corvus, the Crow or "Fig Bird," is a small constel- 
lation containing about ten stars visible to the imas- 
sisted eye. It can be readily recognised by four bright 
stars, which form an irregular quadrilateral, in a section 



The Night-Sky of Spring 55 

not very rich in large stars. Epsilon, the faintest of 
the four, the one situated in the neck of the crow, and 
in the lower right-hand corner of the figure, is of the 
third magnitude. Gienah, or Gamma, in the west wing 
of the crow, and in the upper right-hand corner of the 
figure, is now the brightest star in the constellation. 
It is of the second magnitude, and Hes only one degree 
east of the equinoctial colure. 

Beta, about as bright as Gienah, is on the foot of 
the crow, and in the lower left-hand corner of the 
figure, but, like Epsilon, has no specific name. Algorab, 
or Delta, the star in the east wing of the crow, and in 
the upper left-hand corner of the figure, is a beautiful 
double star of the second magnitude. The lowest 
star, Al Chiba, or Alpha, in the beak of the crow — which 
is depicted as pecking at Hydra — and once the leader 
of the constellation, is now only of the fourth magnitude. 

According to Greek fable, the crow was placed among 
the stars by Apollo, as a reward for detective services. 
Having become jealous of Coronis, the beautiful daugh- 
ter of Phlegyas, and mother of ^sculapius, Apollo, it 
is related, sent a crow to watch her. The intimacy of 
Coronis with Ischys, the Thessalian, as reported by 
the crow, so enraged Apollo, that 

the colour left his look, 
The wreath his head, the harp his hand forsook: 
The silver bow and feathered shafts he took. 
And lodged an arrow in the tender breast. 
That had so often to his own been prest. 

Another legend, mentioned by Allen, relates that 
the crow, being sent by Apollo with a cup to bring some 
water for a sacrifice to Jupiter, loitered at a fig-tree 
till the fruit became ripe, and then returned to the god 



56 The Call of the Stars 

with a water-snake in his claws, and a lie on his tongue, 
alleging the snake to have been the cause of his delay. 
In punishment for his dilatoriness and untruthfulness 
he was forever fixed in the sky with the Cup and the 
Snake, the latter being charged never to allow him to 
drink. 

The crow, it is also said, was once of the purest white, 
but was changed, as a punishment for tale-bearing, to 
its present sable hue: 

The raven once in snowy plumes was drest, 

White as the whitest dove's unsullied breast, 

His tongue, his prating tongue, had changed him quite, 

To sooty blackness from the purest white. 

Corvus comes to the meridian about 9 p.m. on May 
loth. 

Crater 

(The Cup) 

Like Corvus, Crater, the Cup, or the "Mixing Bowl,*' 
rests on the back of the great water-snake, Hydra. It 
is marked by seven stars immediately west of Corvus 
and south of Virgo, which form a somewhat striking 
bowl-shaped figure, in an inclined position, with the 
open part towards the east. It is a rather inconspicu- 
ous constellation, one of its stars, Delta, being of the 
third magnitude, Alkes and three others of the fourth, 
and two of the fifth. 

Alkes, or Alpha, an orange-tinted star, formerly the 
brightest star in the constellation, but now much fainter 
than Delta, is situated in the bottom of the cup, and 
is common to both Hydra and Crater. 

The Greeks seem to have looked upon Crater as the 



The Night-Sky of Spring 57 

"Goblet of Apollo," but according to Manilius it 
belonged to Bacchus: 

Next flies the Crow, and next the generous Bowl 
Of Bacchus flows, and cheers the thirsty pole. 

Then, too, it has been differently known as the cup 
of Hercules, the cup of Achilles, and the cup of Medea ; 
while later it has been identified with the cup that 
was found in Benjamin's sack, with the wine-cup of 
Noah, and even with a vial of wrath of the Revelation. 
Another legend connects it with the Soma cup of 
prehistoric India. 

Allen states that there is an ancient vase in the War- 
wick collection on which are inscribed the following lines : 

Wise ancients knew when Crater rose in sight, 
Nile's fertile deluge had attained its height. 

Crater's stars lie directly south of the hinder-feet 
of Leo, and come to the meridian at 9 p.m. on April 26th. 

Argo Navis 

(The Ship Argo) 

Lying largely in the Milky Way, south of Hydra 
and Monoceros, and south-east of Canis Major, is the 
great constellation Argo Navis, the ship Argo, the most 
important part of which, for observation, is unfortu- 
nately too far south, as only a few stars in the stem of 
the ship are visible in this latitude. According to 
Greek fable it represents the famous ship built by Argo 
about 936 B.C., in which Jason and his fifty-four notable 
companions went to Colchis in search of the Golden 
Fleece. It was the first long vessel ever built, and is 
beUeved by some to be no other than the Ark of Noah. 



58 The Call of the Stars 

Wordsworth thus refers to this constellation: 

When the first Ship sailed for the Golden Fleece — 

Argo, exalted for that daring feat 

To fix in heaven her shape distinct with stars. 

And Aratus wrote of its position: 

Against the tail of the Great Dog is dragged 
Sternward the Argo. 

The leading star of the constellation is a star of 
immense magnitude, called Canopus, after one of its 
pilots. It is situated in the keel of the ship, and is a 
bluish-white star of the sirian type. It is second only 
to Sirius in brilliancy, having a magnitude of —0.9. It 
can be seen from the Gulf States, but is not visible in 
this latitude. It is at least three hundred and twenty- 
five Hght years distant, has a proper or cross motion of 
eight and a half miles a second, and is receding from 
the solar system at the rate of over twelve miles a 
second. The notable second-magnitude star, Gamma, 
is said to be the only really bright star yielding the 
peculiar Wolf -Ray et type of spectrum — that is, a 
spectrum characterised by bright instead of dark lines, 
and also showing dark bands, the bright lines signifying 
that the atmospheric vapours producing them are at a 
higher temperature than the body of the star. The 
so-called Wolf-Rayet stars, it may be stated, are few 
in number, probably not over one hundred, and are all 
found in or very near the Milky Way, or in the Magel- 
lanic Clouds. 

The constellation Argo contains a wonderful, irregu- 
larly variable star named Eta, which is surrounded 
by the great "Key-hole Nebula in Argus," a variable 



The Night-Sky of Spring 59 

nebula situated in one of the most brilliant portions of 
the Milky Way. 

Over in the west the magnificent Orion, the interest- 
ing Taurus with its celebrated clusters the Hyades and 
Pleiades, the bright Twins, the brilHant Dog Stars, and 
the skilful Charioteer, are now declining rapidly toward 
the horizon, and will be described later, being more 
favourably situated in the chart of the winter night 
sky. The winter branch of the Milky Way, too, is 
swinging closer each night to the western horizon, while 
the northern end of the summer branch is just appear- 
ing in the north-east. Besides, what may be of more 
than passing interest to the observer, is a rather barren 
stretch of sky, separating the winter stars from the 
stars of spring, the "pointers" in Ursa Major and the 
stars in the triangle of Leo being the only bright stars 
in the great belt extending from the celestial pole to 
the southern limits of vision. 

Of the on-coming constellations, the great Harvest 
constellation, Virgo, with its beautiful flushed- white 
star Spica, to the east, the large Bootes, with its bril- 
liant orange-tinted Arcturus, in the north-east, and 
the constellation Lyra, the Lyre, with its blazing blue 
star Vega, to the north, are by far the most conspicuous. 

Virgo 

(The Virgin) 

Virgo, the Virgin, the sixth sign and seventh constel- 
lation of the zodiac, lies close to the ecliptic, about half 
north and half south of the equator, and is bounded 
on the east by Libra, on the west by Leo, on the north 
by Bootes and Coma Berenices, and on the south by 
Corvus, Crater, and Hydra. It is a very old and noble 



6o The Call of the Stars 

constellation of great dimensions and replete with 
astronomical interest. The sun occupies it for forty- 
five days, passing through it from September 14th to 
October 29th. All told, it contains one hundred stars 
visible to the naked eye, including one of the first 
magnitude, six of the third, and a number of the fourth, 
fifth, and sixth. 

The principal stars admit of being linked up so as 
to form the outline of the flowing robe of a virgin. In 
most representations of Virgo, she appears as a beau- 
tiful maiden with folded wings springing from her 
shoulders, holding in her left hand a spear of wheat or 
an ear of com, defined in the heavens by the position 
of the fascinating star Spica. 

According to Hesiod, Virgo was Astrsea, the daughter 
of Jupiter and Themis, and the goddess of justice. In 
the Golden Age, when the gods dwelt upon the earth, 
Astrasa ruled the world, and was especially reverenced 
by men for her pure hfe and kindly deeds. But becom- 
ing offended at the wickedness and impiety of mankind 
during the Brazen and Iron Ages of the world, she 
returned to heaven. The last of the immortals to 
leave the earth, she 

Winged her flight to heaven; and fixed 

Her station in that region 

Where still by night is seen 

The Virgin goddess near to bright Bootes. 

Aratus. 

In Egyptian mythology, Virgo was associated with 
Isis, and it was said that as she fled to escape the dread- 
ful giant Typhon, she dropped one of the three ripened 
ears of com she held in her hand, which became scat- 
tered over the heavens and formed the Milky Way. 



The Night-Sky of Spring 6i 

Another, a Greek fable, identified Virgo with Erigone, 
the daughter of Icarius, an Athenian, who was murdered 
by some shepherds whom he had intoxicated with wine. 
Directed by her faithful dog Maera to the place where 
her father was slain, overcome with grief, she hung 
herself. 

Thus once in Marathon's impervious wood, 
Erigone beside her father stood, 
When hastening to discharge her pious vows, 
She loos'd the knot and cull'd the strongest boughs. 

Statius. 

Virgo has also been associated with the Virgin Mary, 
and with Ruth gleaning in the fields of Boaz. 

According to the late Andrew Lang, the old custom, 
still seen in some parts of England and Scotland, of 
escorting with music from the field, the "Kern-baby,'* 
made up of the last gleanings of the harvest, was derived 
from the myths relating to Virgo. 

Astrologically, Virgo was a feminine sign, and was 
looked upon as generally unfortunate. 

The most noted star in the constellation is the beau- 
tiful, white, first-magnitude star Spica, or Alpha Virginis, 
glistening in the spear of wheat or the ear of corn which 
the virgin holds in her left hand. It rises a very little 
south of the exact eastern point on the horizon, and 
may be known by its solitary splendour, there being no 
star at all approaching it in brightness within thirty 
degrees of it. It can be found by extending an imagi- 
nary line from the end of the handle of The Dipper 
through Arcturus, to about an equal distance beyond it. 
And again, an imaginary line drawn from Polaris 
through Mizar, the middle star in the handle of the 



62 The Call of the Stars 

big dipper, will, if extended about sixty-five degrees, 
pass through Spica. 

Spica belongs to the sirian type of suns, being young 
in the order of evolution, and is receding from the solar 
system at the rate of over four thousand miles an hour. 
Its actual magnitude is very great, and it exceeds the 
sun probably hundreds of times in intrinsic brightness. 
According to spectroscopic and also to more recent 
spectro-photographic investigations, it is a spectro- 
scopic binary, its obscure companion star being of the 
tenth magnitude and bluish in colour. The two 
revolving bodies are said to complete a revolution in 
the remarkably short period of four days. Spica takes 
five hours and twenty-five minutes to reach the me- 
ridian, when it is somewhat less than half-way up from 
the southern horizon. It lies within the moon's path, 
and is one of the stars from which the moon's distance 
is taken for determining the longitude at sea. It 
culminates at 9 p.m. on May 27th. 

The star Porrima, or Gamma, a third-magnitude star 
situated on the girdle near the left side, about ten 
degrees north of Spica, was one of the first binaries to 
be discovered. It is an interesting double star, and a 
fine object for a small telescope. The two components 
are about equal in magnitude, and are of a pale yellow 
colour. They have a period of revolution around a 
common centre of gravity, estimated at about one 
hundred and eighty years. Gamma is fifty-six Hght 
years distant, has a proper or cross motion of about 
twenty-eight miles a second, and is approaching the 
solar system at the rate of thirteen miles a second. It 
comes to the meridian at 9 p.m. on ]May 17th. 

Epsilon, called also ''Vindemiatrix," signifying 
"grape-gatherer," is a bright yellow star of the third 



The Night-Sky of Spring 63 

magnitude, in the right arm, or northern wing, about 
midway between Spica and the delicate cluster of stars 
which forms the "Maiden's Hair," or Coma Berenices. 
It was known to the Arabs as the "Forerunner of the 
Vintage," because its heliacal rising was the herald of 
the vintage time. It has a minute distant companion 
star, of a deep red colour. 

Zavijava, or Beta, a third- magnitude star below 
Denebola, marks the top of the left wing, while Zaniah, 
or Eta, also of the third magnitude, is in the heart, 
about five degrees west of Gamma. The autumnal 
equinox, or the place where the sun crosses the celestial 
equator on his southerly journey about the 23d of 
September, is situated nearly between the stars Eta and 
Beta. The stars Delta and Zeta of the third magni- 
tude, and Theta, a double star of the fourth, along 
with a number of smaller stars, are dotted over the 
maiden's flowing robe. Six stars of from the fourth to 
the sixth magnitude are in the head of the Virgin, and 
three, namely. Lambda, Iota, and Pi, are in the feet. 
The stars Zeta and Gamma form with Spica a handsome 
triangle. 

The space marked out by the set of five stars. Beta, 
Eta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon, has been called the 
** Field of the Nebulae," on account of the great number 
of nebulse found in this region. To the Arabs, the 
cup-shaped figure formed by these stars was known as 
**The Retreat of the Howling Dogs" (Canes Venatici). 

Cancer 

(The Crab) 

Above the head of Hydra, and between Leo and 
Gemini, lies Cancer, the Crab, the smallest and least 



64 The Call of the Stars 

conspicuous of all the zodiacal constellations. It is 
a very ancient constellation, and is important mainly 
from its position in the zodiac. 

Dante, alluding to its faintness and high position 
in the heavens, wrote in the Paradiso (Longfellow's 
tr.): 

Thereafterward, a light among them brightened, 
So that, if Cancer one such crystal had, 
Winter would have a month of one sole day. 

Cancer's principal stars, none of which are brighter 
than the fourth magnitude, form an inverted Y. The 
total length of the X. is about twenty degrees. A pair of 
the stars, Gamma and Delta, have been known from 
time immemorial as the "twin Asses,'' or the "Aselli." 
Gamma, or the Asellus Borealis, and Delta, or the Asellus 
Australis, stand respectively north and south of their 
Manger, a famous naked-eye cluster of small stars 
called **Pr£esepe." Delta, the southern Asellus, a 
delicate double star, is situated in the line of the 
ecliptic. 

The historic cluster Praesepe, the "Beehive," or the 
celestial weather-glass, in the breast of the sprawling 
crab, about ten degrees south of Pollux, is the most 
noticeable and interesting feature of Cancer. It lies 
nearly between the "Aselli," a little to the west, and 
on very clear nights, when the moon is absent, is visible 
to the naked eye as a little faint cloud, which a large 
opera-glass or a small telescope will easily resolve into 
an aggregation of small stars. It is of about the same 
size as the Pleiades, and is composed of three hundred 
and sixty-three stars. It has often been mistaken by 
amateur observers for a comet. 



The Night-Sky of Spring 65 

Like a little mist, 
Far north in Cancer's territory, it floats. 
Its confines are two faintly glimmering stars; 
These are two Asses that a Manger parts. 

Aratus. 

In ancient times Praesepe, or the Manger, was regarded 
in the light somewhat of a weather-guide. 

Pliny thus refers to it: "If Praesepe is not visible in 
a clear sky, it is a presage of a violent storm." 

And Aratus in Prognostica wrote: 

A murky Manger with both stars 
Shining unaltered, is a sign of rain. 

According to Macrobius, the name Cancer was 
selected by the Chaldeans to represent this constella- 
tion, because the crab, being an animal that walks 
backward or obliquely, well typified the sun's apparent 
retrograde movement when it was in this part of the 
zodiac. 

I was born, sir, when the Crab was ascending, 
And my affairs go backward. 

CONGREVE. 

According to Greek legend, Cancer represents the 
gigantic sea-crab that came to the assistance of the 
water-snake, and seized the foot of Hercules, as he 
was fighting with Hydra in the Lemaean marshes. 
The hero crushed the reptile under his heel and slew 
it, whereupon Juno, in gratitude for the offered service, 
importuned Jupiter to place the crab among the con- 
stellations. 

Another legend relates that Bacchus, while on the 
way to the temple of Jove, came to a great marsh, over 
s 



66 The Call of the Stars 

which he was carried by an ass, one of two near-by at 
the time. In return for this gracious service, he trans- 
formed both creatures into stars, and placed them in 
the heavens, where they have remained as the "twin 
Asses" to this day. 

In astrology Cancer was known as a dark sign, and 
was most unfavourably regarded. The Aselli were 
portents of violent death to such as came under their 
influence, while Pr^sepe, or the Beehive, like all 
clusters, threatened mischief and blindness. To the 
Chaldeans, Cancer or rather Praesepe was known 
as the ''Gate of Men," the region of the stars 
through which, when human beings were bom, the 
souls that were to animate their bodies descended 
from heaven to earth. 

The star Acubens, or Alpha Cancri, is a double star 
of the fourth magnitude situated in the south-eastern 
claw, with two very small stars near it. It comes to 
the meridian at 9 p.m. on March i8th. Beta, also a 
fourth-magnitude star, is in the south-western claw, 
midway between Acubens and the bright star 
Procyon in the Lesser Dog. Zeta Cancri is a fine 
quadruple star near the hind claws of the crab, 
and is one of the most famous of stellar systems. 
Seeliger of Munich, who has given this system much 
study, believes that three bright stars in it — of the 
fifth- and- a- half, sixth, and sixth -and -a- half mag- 
nitudes respectively — revolve round a dark body, 
apparently the most massive of the four. The star 
Iota is a pretty double, formed by a yellow star of 
the fourth magnitude and a companion of the sixth 
magnitude. 

The sun is travelling through the constellation from 
July 1 8th to August 7th. 



The Night-Sky of Spring 67 

Coma Berenices 

(Berenice's Hair) 

Coma Berenices, "Chioma di Berenice," or Berenice's 
Hair, is a beautiful little constellation lying north-east 
of Denebola, midway between it and Cor Caroli. It 
is one of the most fairy-like objects in the sky, and 
contains about ninety stars, only three of which are as 
bright as the fourth magnitude. It is situated at the 
northern pole of the Milky Way, and contains many 
small nebulas, also a number of double stars with lilac- 
coloured companions. The most crowded part, a deli- 
cate, irregular cluster of very faint stars, visible to 
the naked eye as a glimmering spot, is a pretty sight 
in an opera-glass. 

With marked appropriateness does The Poet at the 
Breakfast Table allude to 

The spangled stream of Berenice's hair. 

Bryant, too, in The Constellations j notices 

The streaming tresses of the Egyptian queen. 

In the mythological history of Coma Berenices, it is 
related that when Ptolemy Soter, or Euergetes, one of 
the kings of Egypt, started on a dangerous expedition 
against the Assyrians, Queen Berenice vowed to con- 
secrate her fine head of hair to the temple of Venus, 
in case he returned safely. On his successful return 
she fulfilled her vow, and Jupiter placed the shining 
''tresses" among the stars. 

According to Eratosthenes, this constellation has 
also been identified with the hair of Ariadne. 

Dr. Seiss claimed that it was vertically overhead at 



68 The Call of the Stars 

Jerusalem on the 25th of December at the time of Christ's 
birth, and associated it with the Star of the Magi. 

Canes Venatici 

(The Hunting Dogs) 

Canes Venatici, or the Hunting Dogs, is an interesting 
modern constellation formed by HeveHus in the 17th 
century, out of the unformed stars scattered between 
Coma Berenices, Bootes, and the Greater Bear. Its 
stars, one of which is of about the second magnitude, 
one of the fourth, and a number of the fifth, are sup- 
posed to represent a pair of hunting dogs or hounds, 
which, held in leash by Bootes, are pursuing the great 
Bear continually round the pole. 

Bootes hath unleash'd his fiery hounds. 

Owen Meredith. 

The northern dog is named Asterion, and the southern 
one, Chara. In the neck of the latter is situated the 
beautiful Cor Caroli, or ''Charleses Heart," a white star 
of about the second magnitude. It is the leading star 
of the constellation, and was named Cor Caroli by 
Halley, the Astronomer Royal, at the suggestion of 
Sir Charles Scarborough, the Court physician, in 
memory of Charles I. 

Cor Caroli is a wide double star, having a sixth-magni- 
tude companion of a pale lilac colour, and is an easy 
object for very small instruments. It can be readily 
foimd by drawing an imaginary line from Polaris 
through Alioth in Ursa Major, which will lead directly 
to it. It forms an equilateral triangle with the stars 
Phad and Alcaid in Ursa Major, and is also one of the 
four stars forming the "Diamond of Virgo." It comes 
to the meridian at 9 p.m. on May 20th. 




Mount Wilson Solar Observatory 

Plate IV. Owl Nebula in Ursa Major 




Yerkes Observatory 



Plate V. Spiral Nebula in Canes Venatici 

(Showing detached mass) 



The Night-Sky of Spring 69 

In the head of the northern dog Asterion, about three 
degrees distant from Alcaid, or Eta Ursas Majoris, can 
be seen the famous Whirlpool Nebula (Plate V.). 
It is invisible to the naked eye, but shows itself in a 
small telescope as a bright nebulous cloud, the material 
of which, as it shrinks under its own gravitation, is 
becoming arranged in a spiral form. As is the case of 
nearly all spiral nebulas, it will continue to contract and 
grow hotter and be transformed, it is believed, into a 
central sun with a system of worlds moving around it 
in a nearly round orbit. The majority of the nebulae of 
the sky, it is known, have a spiral form, and it is now 
generally believed that a great part of the stars are the 
centres of true solar systems. Out of these infinite varie- 
ties of worlds, may there not be many planetary bodies 
which have already reached the stage of habitability, and 
be peopled by diverse and unimaginable forms of life! 

The plurality of inhabited worlds is thus beautifully 
alluded to in Alexander Pope's Universal Prayer — the 
Te Deum laudamus of that broad Christian church 
which embraces God-loved humanity: 

Father of all ! in every age, 

In every clime adored, 

By saint, by savage, and by sage, 

Jehovah, Jove, or Lord. 

Yet not to earth's contracted span 
Thy goodness let me bound. 
Or think Thee, Lord, alone of man, 
When thousand worlds are round. 

If I am right. Thy grace impart. 
Still in the right to stay; 
If I am wrong, oh ! teach my heart 
To find that better way. 



70 The Call of the Stars 

Bootes 

(The Bear-driver) 

Lying south of the Greater Bear and between the 
Heart of Charles on the west, the Northern Crown on 
the east, and the Virgin on the south, is a fine, rich, 
straggling constellation, nearly fifty degrees in length, 
called Bootes, 

whose order'd beams 
Present a figure driving on his teams, 
Below his girdle, near his knees, he bears 
The bright Arcturus, fairest of the stars. 

Manilius. 

The name Bootes is used by Homer, and means a 
ploughman, or according to some authorities an ox- 
driver, and is not infrequently translated the ''Herds- 
man." By the Greeks, Bootes was referred to as the 
*' Bear-keeper," or ''Bear-driver," because he seems to 
be driving the great Bear before him, in its ceaseless 
joimiey around the pole. 

Bootes only seemed to roll 

His Arctic charge around the pole. 

Byron. 

In his Sartor Resartus, Chapter IH., Reminiscences y 
Thomas Carlyle mentions him, when he alludes to Herr 
Teufelsdrockh as having said when he returned from 
the coffee-house at midnight: "It is true sublimity to 
be here. These fringes of lamplight, struggling up 
through the smoke and thousand-fold exhalation, some 
fathoms into the ancient region of Night, what thinks 
Bootes of them, as he leads his Hunting Dogs over the 
zenith in their leash of sidereal fire?" 



The Night-Sky of Spring 71 

The constellation is usually represented by the figure 
of a tall man in a running attitude, grasping a spear, 
club, or pastoral staff, in his right hand; and holding 
in his uplifted left hand the leash of his two hunting 
dogs, Asterion and Chara, which seem to be barking 
at the great Bear. It is visible in this latitude from 
March to November, and contains one star seven- 
tenths of a magnitude above the first rank, one star 
of nearly the second magnitude, six of the third, 
and a number of the fourth, fifth, and sixth. It may 
be easily distinguished by the position and splendour 
of its principal star, the celebrated golden-hued Arctu- 
rus, which may be found by following the curve of the 
handle of The Dipper, prolonged about thirty degrees. 

On account of the peculiar shape of this pentagonal 
constellation, it rises horizontally and ver}'- rapidly, a 
little north of east, all of its stars emerging from below 
the horizon at about the same time. But it sets in so 
nearly the upright position, that it requires more than 
eight hours to slowly sink below the north-west horizon. 

Aratus, alluding to its slow setting, describes Bootes 
as: 

One who 
When tired of the day 
At even lingers more than half the night. 

Mythologically, accounts of Bootes vary considerably. 
According to one Greek fable, having been robbed of all 
his goods by his brother, Bootes, after many hardships 
and wanderings, invented a plough, which was drawn by 
two oxen. With this he tilled the land and made a 
living thereby. So highly pleased was his mother, 
Callisto, at his cleverness, that, desiring to preserve 
the memory of his invention, and at the same time 



72 The Call of the Stars 

reward him for so industriously working the land, she 
induced Zeus to place him in the sky together with 
the plough. In his system of gospel mythology Seiss 
identifies Bootes with the ** Great Shepherd and 
Harvester of Souls." 

The most striking object in the constellation is 
Arcturus, or Alpha Bootis. It is one of the most 
beautiful stars in the heavens, and has been the ad- 
miration of all ages. 

In his beautiful poem to Arcturus, Whitman writes: 

Star of resplendent front ; thy glorious eye 
Shines on me still from out yon clouded sky. 

Elgie tersely alludes to it as the harbinger of spring 
and the apotheosis of summer. It ranks with Canopus 
as one of the largest stars in the universe, its diameter 
being estimated at several million miles, and its mass 
at several hundred times that of the sun. So distant 
is it that its light takes forty-three and a half light 
years to reach the earth. Then, too, it has the most 
rapid motion of any of the brighter stars, and has been 
rightly called a giant "runaway star." While it is 
approaching the earth at the rate of only three miles a 
second, it is moving along the face of the sky at a 
speed of over eighty-nine miles a second. In the course 
of a century, by reason of this very rapid motion, it 
changes its place among the other stars, by a distance 
equal to one-eighth of the moon's apparent diameter. 

It belongs to the solar type of suns, although its 
spectnmi indicates that it is a little farther along than 
the sun in its development from a gaseous to a solid 
body. It is probably surrounded, as Serviss states, 
with a blanket of absorbing metalHc vapours, which 



The Night-Sky of Spring 73 

cuts off a large part of its radiant energy and gives it 
a ruddy hue. 

It exceeds the sun in intrinsic brilliancy at least two 
hundred times, and could the latter be moved out into 
the depths of space as far as Arcturus, it would appear 
as faint as a tenth-magnitude, telescopic star, entirely 
invisible to the naked eye. It is two and a half times 
brighter than Aldebaran or Altair, and nearly four times 
brighter than Regulus, its principal rivals in the north- 
ern sky being Vega and Capella. It is said to give out 
more heat than Vega, and is believed by some to be the 
hottest star in the universe. The amount of heat, 
however, received from it has been proved to be no 
more than would come from a candle at a distance of 
five miles. 

On October 5, 1858, the brightest part of the tail of 
Donati's great comet — then a magnificent spectacle 
in the northern sky — passed over Arcturus, without 
apparently dimming its lustre. 

Twelve centuries ago, Arcturus was a guide to the 
husbandmen. Thus Hesiod, in the second book of his 
Works and Days, wrote : 

When in the rosy morn Arcturus shines, 
Then pluck the clusters from the parent vines; 
And when Arcturus leaves the main to rise 
A bright star shining in the evening skies, 
Then prune the vine.' 

Accordingly, if Hesiod is to be accredited as an author- 
ity on agriculture, vines should be pruned about the 
end of February or the beginning of March. 

Arcturus has been called the "Watcher" or "Guardi- 
an" of the Bear, and to the Arabs was known as the 
" Keeper of Heaven." It is one of the few stars alluded 



74 The Call of the Stars 

to in the Bible, and is sometimes called "Job's Star.'* 
Its risings and settings, when near the equinoxes, were 
supposed by the ancients to portend great tempests 
and bad harvests. With the astrologers Arcturus por- 
tended honour and riches. 

It is only three-tenths of a magnitude below the zero 
rank, and has a minute, distant, lilac companion of 
the eleventh magnitude. Its colour is a very pale topaz 
when high in the heavens, and a ruddy yellow, some- 
times red, when near the horizon. It is situated near 
the left knee of the figure and forms a large equilateral 
triangle with Denebola and Spica. 

Arcturus rises at the same time the sun sets on March 
30th. It takes seven hours and fifteen minutes to 
reach its highest point each day, and as many more to 
travel to the north-western horizon, where it sets 
fourteen and a half hours after it has risen. At the 
highest point in its journey across the sky it is three- 
quarters of the way up from the horizon to the zenith. 
It culminates on June 8th at 9 p.m. 

Next to Arcturus, the brightest star in the constella- 
tion is Mirac, or Epsilon Bootis, situated in the right 
elbow of the figure about eleven degrees from Arcturus. 
It is a most beautiful binary, and particularly interest- 
ing by reason of the contrasting colours of its com- 
ponents. The larger star of the pair is of a bright-orange 
colour, and of nearly the second magnitude, while the 
companion star is of the sixth magnitude, and of a 
superb sea-green .shade. The two stars can be seen 
in a small telescope nearly three minutes of arc apart. 
Its exceeding beauty has won for it the appellation of 
"Pulchrima." 

The third-magnitude star Nekkar, or Beta, marks 
the head of the figure. It forms with Delta and Gamma 



The Night-Sky of Spring 75 

nearly a right-angled triangle, the right angle being at 
Nekkar. Seginus, or Gamma, also a third-magnitude 
star, is in the west or left shoulder, nearly twenty 
degrees from Cor Caroli. The little triangle of fifth- 
magnitude stars near the end of the handle of The Dipper 
is in the uplifted left hand, holding the leash. At the 
top of the club held in the right hand, is situated a triple 
star called Alkalurops, or Mu. It is a white star of 
about the third magnitude, with two companions of 
the seventh and eighth magnitudes respectively. Nearly 
five degrees south of Alkalurops is Delta, a white, 
third-magnitude star, also in the club, near the east or 
right shoulder. In the field-glass, it shows as a double 
star, the companion star, at a distance of less than two 
minutes of arc, being of the eighth magnitude, and of a 
pale lilac colour. 

In the right ankle is Zeta, a bright, white, double 
star of the third magnitude. Its companion star is of 
the fourth-and-a-half magnitude, and of a bluish-white 
colour. Mufride, or Eta, is a third-magnitude star, 
situated in the left knee. It has a divStant lilac com- 
panion of about the tenth magnitude. Another in- 
teresting binary is Xi, an orange-coloured star of the 
third-and-a-half magnitude, in the right knee. The 
companion star is of about the sixth magnitude and of 
a purple tint. Four of the third-magnitude stars, 
namely Alkalurops, Nekkar, Seginus, and Delta, form 
the figure of a trapezium, which to the Arabs was known 
as "The Female Wolves." 

Draco 

(The Great Dragon) 

Winding round between the Big and the Little Dip- 
per, is the remarkably crooked constellation of Draco, 



^(^ The Call of the Stars 

the great ''Dragon of the North." It is usually repre- 
sented by the figure of a long, sinuous serpent, curving 
from between the "pointers" and the pole, partly 
encircling the Lesser Bear, and finally reaching out its 
head, with gleaming eyes, toward the right foot of 
Hercules. It is a very ancient constellation, and is 
believed by many to be the crooked serpent of Job 
xxvi., 13: 

His hand hath formed the crooked serpent. 

The north pole of the ecliptic is situated midway 
between Zeta and Delta, almost in the centre of the 
great loop formed by the dragon's coils, and close to 
the famous planetary nebula (N. G. C. 6543), which is 
supposed to be moving towT.rds the solar system at the 
rate of forty miles a second. 

With vast convulsions Draco holds 

Th' ecliptic axis in his scaly folds, 

O'er half the skies his neck enormous rears, 

And with immense meanders parts the Bears. 

Erasmus Darwin. 

In the first book of his didactic poem, the Georgics, 
Virgil, as rendered by Dryden, writes: 

Around our pole the spiry Dragon glides, 
And, like a wandering stream the Bears divides — 
The less and greater, who, by Fates' decree, 
Abhor to dive beneath the northern sea. 

Altogether Draco contains over eighty stars, includ- 
ing one of about the second magnitude, nine of about 
the third, and a number of the fourth and fifth. 

The head of the dragon lies just north of Iota Her- 



The Night-Sky of Spring 77 

culis (which is in the giant's left foot), and is marked 
by a conspicuous quadrilateral formed by the stars 
Eltanin or Gamma, Rastaban or Beta, Xi, and Nu. 
The bright stars Eltanin and Rastaban mark the 
"dragon's eyes," while Xi and Nu, along with Mu, 
a double fifth-magnitude star at the snout, make up the 
jaw. Several scattered groups and Httle triangles of 
stars outline the various coils of the body, while an 
irregular line of stars traces out the tail. 

The leading star of the constellation, though not 
now its brightest star, is Thuban, or Alpha Draconis, 
situated in the fifth coil of the dragon near the tail, 
about half-way between Mizar in Ursa Major and the 
star Gamma in Ursa Minor, one of the Wardens of the 
Pole. It is of a pale yellow colour, and was formerly a 
second-magnitude star, but now below the third mag- 
nitude in brightness. Forty-odd centuries ago it was 
situated very near the pole of the heavens, and was then 
the north polar star. As mentioned in the previous 
chapter, it was the orientation star of the Great Pyra- 
mid of Cheops. It comes to the meridian at 9 p.m. 
on June 7th. 

Eltanin, or Gamma, the right-hand upper star in the 
head of the dragon, is now the brightest star in the 
constellation. It is a beautiful orange-coloured star 
of nearly the second magnitude. It is vsituated less 
than two degrees west of the solstitial colure, and forms 
an equilateral triangle with Polaris and Alcaid. It is 
famous as being the star which led Bradley, in 1725, 
while attempting to verify Hooke's illusory parallax, 
to discover the laws of the aberration of light. It is 
the zenith star of Greenwich, and it has been supposed 
that Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal of Great 
Britain, sank a well at Greenwich Observatory for the 



78 The Call of the Stars 

purpose of viewing it with the naked eye by dayhght, 
as well as of measimng telescopically its distance from 
the true zenith at the moment of transit. It has been 
identified as the orientation star of Rameses' great 
temple at Kamak, and of that of Thot at Thebes — 
the City of the Dragon. It is about thirty and a half 
light years distant, and is approaching the solar system 
at the rate of nearly seventeen miles a second. 

About four degrees to the left of Eltanin is Rastaban, 
or Beta, a yellowish star of the third magnitude in the 
left eye of Draco. It has a very distant companion 
of the tenth magnitude, and of a bluish colour. Xi, 
in the jaw, is also a third-magnitude star, and Nu is one 
of the fourth. Grumium, a third-magnitude star, is 
in the lower right-hand corner of the quadrilateral 
forming the head. 

Omicron, a golden-yellow fourth-magnitude star, 
along with several stars of the fifth magnitude, forms 
the first coil. Delta, a third-magnitude star of a deep 
yellow colour, is situated in the second coil. Zeta, 
another third-magnitude star, is in the third coil, nearly 
in line with and midway between Kochab and Eltanin. 
Following these is the star Lambda, or Giansar, also of 
the third magnitude, at the end of the dragon's tail. 
It may be readily recognised lying between Polaris and 
the bowl of the Big Dipper, about eight degrees from 
Dubhe. 

In Greek mythology, Draco is sometimes represented 
as the watchful dragon, Ladon, which guarded the 
golden apples in the famous garden of the Hesperides, 
at the foot of the hyperborean Atlas, and was slain by 
the redoubtable Hercules, who for his eleventh labour 
was ordered to procure some of them. Gasa, the earth- 
goddess, it is said, produced these apples — the symbol 



The Night-Sky of Spring 79 

of love and fruitfulness — as a wedding gift for Jupiter 
and Juno, and Juno rewarded the dragon for his faithful 
services b}^ placing him among the stars. 

Moore, in Irish Melodies, hints that Ladon may have 
been sleeping at his post when Hercules entered the 
Hesperian grove: 

So oft th' unamiable dragon hath slept, 

That the garden's imperfectly watched after all. 

Draco was also identified with the dragon slain by the 
Thracian hero Cadmus, the teeth of which, sown on the 
advice of Minerva, produced, it is said, a most startling 
crop of armed and sanguinary men. Then, too, one 
of the old Greek legends asserts that when the Olym- 
pian gods waged war on the earth-born giants, the 
dragon was brought into the combat and opposed to 
Minerva. The intrepid goddess suddenly seized it 
in her hands, and hurled it, twisted as it was, up into 
the sky. By chance it became entangled in the axis 
of the heavens before it had time to uncoil, and there, 
forever fixed, it sleeps curled up among the stars. 



CHAPTER III 

THE NIGHT-SKY OF SUMMER 

The epoch of the summer solstice, which occurs 
about the 2ist of June, when the sun is at its farthest 
northern decHnation, marks the longest day of the north- 
ern hemisphere, and the first night-sky of summer. 
At about 9:30 P.M., the beautiful, but not very con- 
spicuous, constellations of summer appear as represented 
in Chart II., and with its help they may be readily 
traced as they mount up and cross the sky, 

A silent night-watch o'er the world to keep. 

The same chart represents the appearance of the 
great dome of the sky at about 11 p.m. at the beginning 
of June, about 10 p.m. the middle of June, about 9 p.m. 
the first week of July, and 8 p.m. about the middle of 
July. 

The magnificent winter constellations have now about 
all disappeared in the west, while the last of the spring 
constellations are sinking rapidly towards the horizon. 
High up in the north-west is the Greater Bear, descend- 
ing the starry slope head foremost, and directly in the 
north is the Lesser Bear postured acrobatically on the 
tip of his tail. 

In the far north the yellow star Capella, the chief 
of the dauntless Charioteer, is seen scintillating palely, 

80 



CHART 
PORABOUT JUN. 21 sj 

(The Suramer Solstice J, 

93PPJtf. 




PATH OFPLANETS- 

IN THE 

ZODIACAL BAND 

StarMaPTutudts 
O O ♦ ♦ * 

i^z'^ z'^^rto^'^fandu.dcri CHAKT 11" SUMMER NIGHT SKY 



The Night-Sky of Summer 8i 

and just ready to set; while in the south-west are 
seen the two bright stars of the Balance, or golden 
Scales. Just west of the meridian, near the zenith, 
is the Y-shaped group of stars composing the straggling 
Bear-driver, and the delicate Northern Crown. Verti- 
cally beneath the Crown is the head of the Serpent, 
and on the east, almost overhead, is the great group 
of Hercules with its wonderful cluster. Beyond Her- 
cules towards the north-east is the diamond-shaped 
head of the great shining Dragon. 

Far down towards the southern horizon is the Scor- 
pion with its leader the blazing red star Antares. In 
the Milky Way, east of the Scorpion, lies Sagittarius, the 
Archer, with the inverted little milk dipper and the 
bended bow. Above the Scorpion and the Archer 
are the intertwined constellations of Ophiuchus, the 
Serpent-bearer, and his Serpent. 

Low in the north-east is Cassiopeia, the Lady in the 
Chair. And over in the eastern sky, half-way up to 
the zenith, is the Lyre, or heavenly Harp, with its bluish- 
white star Vega; while, buried in the Milky Way, the 
beautiful Northern Cross, extended on its side, shines 
out above it in the north-east. South-east of the Cross, 
near the eastern side of the Milky Way, are the 
three prominent stars in the neck of the flying or 
soaring Eagle, with the pretty little group of the 
Dolphin, popularly known as Job's Coffin, near-by. 
The summer branch of the Milky Way now shines 
as a majestic astral arch across the sky from the 
north-eastern to the south-western horizon, and 
its great bifurcation can be readily traced from 
Cygnus, the Swan, where it begins, past the Lyre, 
and through the flying or soaring Eagle, to the Archer 
and the Scorpion. 



82 The Call of the Stars 

Libra 

(The Scales) 

Lying south of the equator, east of Virgo and west 
of Scorpio, is the small and inconspicuous asterism 
Libra, the Balance, or the Scales. It is the seventh 
sign and the eighth constellation of the zodiac, and is 
the only zodiacal sign that represents an inanimate 
object, and also the only one not of Euphratean origin. 
It crosses the sky from south-east to south-west during 
the summer months, and may be readily recognised 
by the rude square formed by its four principal stars. 

Originally its stars represented the outstretched 
claws of the imaginary scorpion, and were, it is believed, 
separated from that venomous monster in the time of 
Julius Caesar, and called Libra, the Balance. In classic 
days it marked the autumnal equinox, but owing to 
precessiojz that position is now held by Virgo. 

James Thomson, in the Autumn of his Seasons , writes : 

Libra weighs in equal scales the year. 

In the time of Augustus C^sar, it was regarded as 
the balance of Astr^a, the goddess of justice, and by 
it the fate of mortals was supposed to be weighed. 
According to Greek legend it was placed in the zodiac 
to perpetuate the memory of Mochus, the reputed 
inventor of weights and measures. Caesius thought 
that it represented the balances of the Book of Daniel 
in which Belshazzar had been weighed and found 
wanting. 

Virgil in his flattering address to the Emperor Au- 
gustus, in the First Georgia, alludes to the glowing scor- 
pion as contracting his claws for the special purpose 
of leaving for him a more than ample space in the sky. 



The Night-Sky of Summer 83 

And Milton in his Paradise Lost, Book IV., in the account 
of Gabriel's discovery of Satan in Paradise, and the 
threatened battle, thus refers to the Scales: 

The Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray, 
Hung forth in heaven his golden scales, yet seen 
Betwixt Astrasa and the Scorpion sign, 
Wherein all things created first he weighed. 

The ancient tillers of the soil, according to Virgil, 
regarded the sign Libra as indicating the proper time 
for sowing their winter grain. Thus Dry den, in his 
translation of the first book of the Georgics, writes: 

But when Astrsea's Balance, hung on high 
Betwixt the nights and days, divides the sky, 
Then yoke your oxen, sow your winter grain. 
Till cold December comes with driving rain. 

The sun occupies this zodiacal constellation from 
the 29th of October until the 21st of November. 

In astrology Libra is a masculine sign, and fortunate. 
Its natives — those born from September 23d to October 
23d — are said to be ruled by it. 

Libra contains two stars of the second magnitude, 
two of the third, and a few of the fifth. 

Alpha Libr^, or Zubenelgenubi, meaning the southern 
claw, is in the southern scale of the Balance. It is a 
yellowish-white star of the second magnitude and is 
widely double, having a fifth-magnitude companion of 
a light grey colour, easily seen with an opera-glass. It 
lies almost exactly on the ecliptic, and is situated mid- 
way between Spica and Antares. It culminates on 
June 17th at 9 p.m. 

Beta Librae, or Zubeneschemali, meaning the north- 



84 The Call of the Stars 

em claw, is in the northern scale of the Balance. It is 
situated about ten degrees north-east of Alpha, and 
is the brighter star of the two. It is an interesting 
variable, and has been called the "Emerald Star," as 
it is the only naked-eye green-coloured star in the sky. 
It is of the second magnitude and is widely double, 
having a companion of a light blue colour. It belongs 
to the sirian type of stars, and is said to be approach- 
ing the solar system at the rate of about six miles a 
second. Beta Libras forms an equilateral triangle 
with Arcturus and Spica, and one also with Alpha 
Librae and Mu Virginis. Due south of it lies the 
globular cluster 5 M., known to contain 85 short-period 
variables. 

Delta, a star of the fifth magnitude, near the centre 
of the beam of the Balance, is a remarkable short- 
period variable of the Algol type. In five and a half 
hours it fades to the sixth magnitude, and after six 
and a half hours it regains its former brightness. It 
then remains stationary for about forty-four hours, 
after which it fades again. Its total period is stated 
as two days, seven hours, and fifty-one minutes. 

Corona Borealis 

(The Northern Crown) 

Corona Borealis, or the Northern Crown, is a strik- 
ingly beautiful little constellation, sometimes called 
*' Ariadne's Crown," situated just east of the northern 
part of Bootes, and directly north of the Serpent's 
head. It is confined in a very limited space, being 
only about fifteen degrees across, and is nearly in line 
between Vega and Arcturus. It is of great antiquity 
and is marked by seven twinkling stars, arranged in an 



The Night-Sky of Summer 85 

almost perfect semicircle, resembling very closely a 
crown of sparkling jewels. It is one of the few constel- 
lations which bear any similarity to the objects they 
are supposed to represent. 

According to fable it commemorates the celebrated 
crown of seven stars presented by Bacchus to Ariadne, 
the daughter of Minos, son of Jupiter and second King 
of Crete, to console her for the desertion of the faith- 
less Theseus. It is related that Theseus, son of ^geus, 
King of Athens, went as one of the seven youths, whom 
the Athenians were obliged to send every year, with 
seven maidens, as a tribute to Crete, then a powerful 
maritime state, to be devoured by the ferocious Mino- 
taur us, which was kept in the labyrinth at Cnosus. 

The beautiful Ariadne became passionately devoted 
to Theseus, and provided him with a sword with which 
he slew the Minotaurus, and a clue of thread by means 
of which he found his way out of the labyrinth. The 
young prince Theseus in return promised to marry her, 
and she accordingly left Crete with him. But on their 
arrival at Naxos, an island in the ^^gean Sea, celebrated 
for its wine, the ungrateful Theseus basely abandoned 
her. Here the god Bacchus is said to have found the 
disconsolate Ariadne, and made her his wife. After 
her death, as a memorial to her honour, the glorious 
crown of seven stars, which he gave her at the time of 
their marriage, was placed in the sky beneath the 
guarding club of Hercules. 

There, too, that Crown which Bacchus set on high, 
A brilliant monument of dead Ariadne. 

Aratus. 

Manilius, in the first book of his poem entitled Astro- 
nomica, thus refers to it: 



86 The Call of the Stars 

Near to Bootes the bright Crown is viewed 
And shines with stars of different magnitude: 
One placed in front above the rest displays 
A vigorous light, and darts surprising rays. 

To the Hebrews the Northern Crown was known by 
the name of "Ataroth," while the Australian natives 
called it "Womera," or the boomerang. According 
to Csesius it represented the crown Ahasuerus placed 
on the head of Esther. 

The central brilliant, or the "Pearl of the Crown," 
is Alphecca, or Alpha Coronae, a white star of nearly 
the second magnitude (2.3), usually referred to as 
Gemma, or the "Jewel." Six fourth-magnitude stars 
unite with Gemma to form the front of the crown, and 
scattered over the constellation are six stars of the fifth 
magnitude, besides a number of smaller ones. 

Gemma belongs to the solar type of stars, and is 
receding from the solar system at the rate of about 
twenty miles a second. It has a distant telescopic 
companion of the eighth magnitude, and of a pale 
violet colour. It lies ten degrees east of Epsilon Bootis, 
and forms a nearly equilateral triangle with the stars 
Mirac and Delta in Bootes. It also forms an isosceles 
triangle with Seginus and Arcturus, the vertex of which 
is at Arcturus. 

Some small meteors, called the Coronids, radiate 
from near Gemma and are visible from about the 
middle of April to the last of June. 

The star Gemma rises in the north-east and takes 
seven hours and forty-six minutes in reaching the 
meridian, when it is about seven-eighths of the way up 
from the horizon to the zenith. It culminates at 9 
P.M., June 28th. 



The Night-Sky of Summer 87 

The next star east of Gemma or Alpha Coronae is 
Gamma, a famous binary, the components being usually 
reckoned as of the fourth and the seventh magnitudes. 
North-east of Gemma is the variable star called ''Varia- 
bilis Coronas," which was discovered by Pigott in 
1795. It is of much interest by reason of its rapid and 
irregular changes from about the sixth to the thirteenth 
magnitude. 

On the evening of May 12, 1866, there suddenly 
appeared, just south of the star Epsilon, near the eastern 
edge of the crown, the famous temporary star, T 
Coronas, popularly known as the "Blaze Star," of the 
Northern Crown. It was discovered with the unaided 
eye, by John Birmingham, an amateur astronomer, at 
Millbrook in Ireland, and appeared almost as bright 
as Gemma. It declined rapidly in brilliance, however, 
and in nine days was invisible to the unassisted eye. 
It is now of a pale yellow colour, and the telescope 
shows it, as in its original condition, shining as a star 
of the ninth magnitude. It was notable as being the 
first temporary star to appear since the invention of 
the spectroscope. 

Scorpio 

(The Scorpion) 

Stretching along the southern horizon, directly below 
Ophiuchus the Serpent-bearer, west of Sagittarius, 
and east of Libra is Scorpio, the Scorpion, the eighth 
sign and ninth constellation of the zodiac. It is the 
most brilliant of the summer constellations, and one 
of the most interesting and best marked in the sky. 
It is represented as the figure of a gigantic scorpion \\dth 
its head to the west, brandishing its reverted sting as 



88 The Call of the Stars 

if about to strike the heel of Ophiuchus, who appears 
to be trampling upon it. It is very irregular in shape, 
but resembles the object after which it is named more 
than do most constellations. It requires Httle play 
of the imagination to fancy the huge and baneful 
reptile trailing along the southern horizon, the stumps 
of its sundered claws reaching out towards Libra, and 
its long curved tail just dragging clear of the earth. 

It is the most southerly of the zodiacal constella- 
tions, and can be seen crossing from south-east to south- 
west, from about the first of June until late in October. 
It is about twenty-five degrees in length, its eastern 
extremity being immersed in the Milky Way, and may 
be found by drawing downward for about sixty degrees 
a line at right angles to Altair and his two companions. 
Then, too, its brightest gem, Antares, is nearly south of 
Ras Algethi in the foot of Hercules, and almost as far 
beyond Spica as Spica is beyond Regulus. 

In his beautiful fable of Phaethon, Ovid, who lived 
in the time of our Saviour, thus refers to the con- 
stellation: 

There is a place above, where Scorpion bent, 
Its tail and arms surround a vast extent, 
In a wide circuit of the heavens he shines, 
And fills the place of two celestial signs. 

The Sim enters the sign Scorpio on the 23d of October, 
but does not reach the constellation before the 21st of 
November, which it occupies until the i6th of December. 

Besides Antares, Scorpio contains two stars of the 
second magnitude, about nine of the third, and several 
of the fourth and fifth. 

In mythology, one of the legends connects the Scor- 
pion with the story of Orion, the mighty hunter. It 



The Night-Sky of Summer 89 

is said to be the famous reptile which sprang out of the 
earth at the command of Juno and bit the foot of Orion, 
causing his death. Scorpio and Orion are so placed 
in the heavens that just as the former rises in the 
eastern sky the latter dips below the western horizon. 
The two constellations never appear in the heavens 
together. 

When the Scorpion comes 

Orion flees to the utmost end of earth. 

Aratus. 

And yet the Scorpion itself was in danger, as Sack- 
viDe, in his introduction to the Mirror Jor Magistrates , 
writes: 

Whiles Scorpio, dreading Sagittarius* dart 

Whose bow prest bent in flight the string had slipped, 

Down slid into the ocean flood apart. 

Another fable connects the Scorpion with the story 
of Phaethon as the cause of the disastrous runaway of 
the steeds of Phoebus Apollo, divine king of the heavens. 
Phaethon was the son of Helios or " old Father Phoebus,'* 
by the Oceanid Clymene, the wife of Merops, King of 
the Ethiopians. It is related that ''this roaring young 
blade" was presumptuous and ambitious enough to 
request "his doting old father" to allow him, for one 
day, to drive the chariot of the sun across the heavens. 

Nay, Phaethon, don't 
I beg you won't. 

Saxe. 

Induced by the entreaties of his son and of Clymene, 
Helios, however, finally yielded, and the horses were 



90 The Call of the Stars 

harnessed. But Phaethon, being an inexperienced 
driver, the horses, starting in Aries, soon got beyond 
control, and dashing off from their usual track, rushed 
headlong through the constellations (Plate VL). As 
they approached the scorpion with its immense tail 
and horrid sting upraised ready to strike, Phaethon, 
terror-stricken, dropped the reins. The horses, stimg 
by the scorpion, took fright, and plunging wildly, 
hurled the chariot over the trackless wastes, so near the 
earth as almost to set it on fire. Thereupon, Jupiter 
struck the ambitious youth with a flash of Hghtning, 
and tumbled him headlong from his chariot down into 
the great sky-river Eridanus. His three sisters, the 
Heliades, who had harnessed up the horses to the 
chariot, bewailed the death of their brother so bitterly 
on the banks of the Eridanus, that the gods in compas- 
sion changed them into poplars, and their tears into 
amber. Ovid duly commemorated their grief in the 
following lines: 

All the long night their mournful watch they keep, 
And all the day stand round the tomb and weep. 

In the Hebrew zodiac, Scorpio is allotted to Dan, 
because it is written, "Dan shall be a serpent by the 
way, an adder in the path" (Genesis xlix., 17). 

Astrologically considered, Scorpio is the house and 
joy of Mars. Those bom from October 23d to Novem- 
ber 22 d are said to be ruled by it. It is a feminine 
sign, and is regarded as unfortimate. The ancients 
supposed it to be emblematic of fevers and other 
diseases which prevail in the autumn. 

In Dante's Purgatorio (Longfellow's tr.) it is referred 
to as: 



mfm 




The Night-Sky of Summer 91 

that cold animal 
Which with its tail doth smite amain the nations. 

The most noted star in the constellation is Ant ares 
or Alpha called also Cor Scorpionis or Le Cceur du 
Scorpion, the heart of the Scorpion. It is a nearly 
first-magnitude star of a fiery red colour situated in the 
heart of the venomous reptile. It owes its name to its 
being the reddest bright star in the sky, the rival of 
Mars, the ruddy planet, in brightness and colour 
(from the Greek Antt, like, and Ares, Mars). It lies 
south of the celestial equator in a long and curving row 
of bright stars which mark the body and reverting 
sting of the scorpion. It is pointed out by a line start- 
ing at Polaris, and running thence directly south, 
about half-way between Arcturus and Vega, for a 
distance of about 116 degrees. Along with Arcturus 
and Spica it makes up a magnificent right-angled 
triangle, Spica making the right angle. And again, 
it forms with Vega and Arcturus a great isosceles 
triangle, of which the latter star is the apex. 

It rises in the south-east and is so far south of the 
equator that it requires only four hours and a quarter 
to reach the meridian, when it is only one-quarter of 
the way up from the horizon to the zenith, It appears 
above the horizon nearly an hour before Altair, an hour 
and a half after Deneb, and about two hours and a 
half after Vega. On the first day of June it rises just 
as the sun sets, and culminates at 9 p.m., on July nth. 
It will be seen at its brightest in the latter part of June 
and during July. 

Antares is a magnificent binary, having an emerald 
green companion star of the seventh and a half magni- 
tude, which forms a strong contrast to the flaming red 



92 The Call of the Stars 

of the larger star, and can be seen with a moderately 
small telescope. It has two small stars, Sigma and 
Tau, of about the third magnitude, which stand like 
guardians on either side. The fiery red colour of 
Antares indicates that it belongs to the type of suns 
that are far advanced in development, and in which, 
as Serviss states, the absorbing envelopes have become 
so dense that they are fast approaching extinction. 
And yet as the average duration of solar life is many 
million years, its ultimate extinction may not take place 
for untold ages. Some authorities claim that with all 
its waning, it sends out nine hundred times as much 
light as the sun. It is about 112 light years distant, 
has a proper or cross motion of 180 miles a minute, and 
is approaching the solar system at the rate of about 114 
miles a minute. 

Antares was one the four Royal stars of the ancient 
Persians, and the oldest of the Grecian temples were 
oriented to it. 

North-west of Antares are two second-magnitude 
stars. Beta and Delta, which with Pi, a third-magnitude 
star south of them, form a nearly vertical curve, 
about seven degrees in length, which marks the front 
of the scorpion's head. The tail is formed by several 
third- and fourth-magnitude stars, which sweep in a 
magnificent U-shaped curve through the Milky Way, 
ending about seventeen degrees south-east of Antares, 
in a pair of bright stars which mark the reptile's up- 
lifted sting. Beginning with Epsilon, the names of 
these stars are, Mu, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, 
Lambda, and Upsilon. The three stars. Kappa, Lambda, 
and Upsilon, in the extremity of the tail, form a small 
triangle. The twin stars Shaula or Lambda, and 
Lesuth or Upsilon, are situated in the reverted sting 



The Night-Sky of Summer 93 

of the scorpion, Shaula being the brighter of the two. 

To the Polynesians the crooked Hne of stars from Mu 
to Upsilon, which form the tail, was known as the 
'' Fish-hook of Mani." 

About nine degrees north-west of Antares is a beauti- 
ful, easily seen double, known as Graffias, or Beta Scor- 
pionis. The larger star of the pair is of a pale white 
colour, and of the second magnitude, while the com- 
panion star is of the sixth magnitude and of a pale 
blue colour. The two stars can be seen nearly thirteen 
minutes of arc apart. Jabbah or Nu is a beautiful 
triple star of the fourth magnitude, two degrees east 
of Beta. Its two companions are of the seventh magni- 
tude. Sigma, one of the attendants or guardians of 
Antares, and about two degrees west of it, is a white, 
third-magnitude star, with a bluish, ninth-magnitude 
companion, situated in the body of the scorpion. Two 
degrees south-east of Antares is Tau, a star of nearly 
the third magnitude, the eastern attendant or guardian 
of the ruddy star. Epsilon, a star of the third magni- 
tude, is situated seven degrees below Tau, and is the 
first star in the tail. Mu, the third star from Antares, 
and nearly five degrees below Epsilon, is also a third- 
magnitude star. Zeta, the next star below Mu, is 
situated where the curve turns suddenly to the east. 
It is a third-magnitude star, and a charming double, 
one of the components being reddish and the other 
bluish in colour. 

To the north and east of Shaula and Lesuth, the 
twin stars in the uplifted sting, are two beautiful star 
clusters, about four degrees apart, known as 6 M. and 
7 M. which can be very well seen with an opera glass. 
Nearly half-way between Antares and Graffias, or Beta 
Scorpionis, is a fine star cluster, 80 M., visible with 



94 The Call of the Stars 

a small telescope. It is said to be one of the richest and 
most condensed masses of stars in the heavens. In May, 
i860, a star flared up apparently in the centre of the 
cluster, and shone at first with marked brilliancy, but 
faded in less than a month into invisibility. On the 
east of this conspicuous cluster is a dark gap in the 
sky, a starless spot about four degrees wide. It is 
interesting as being the first "black-hole" or "coal- 
sack" noted by Sir William Herschel. 

Ophiuchus and Serpens 

(The Serpent -Bearer and his Serpent) 

The intertwined constellations of Ophiuchus, the 
Serpent-bearer, and Serpens, the Serpent, lie on both 
sides of the equator, and occupy a space in the sky 
nearly fifty degrees in length and breadth, north of 
Scorpio and south of Hercules. They are supposed 
to represent a giant treading upon the scorpion and 
crushing in his hands an enormous writhing serpent, 
whose upraised head is just south of the Northern 
Crown. The double constellation, the outline of 
which is weirdl}^ irregular, contains two stars of about 
the second magnitude, about thirteen of the third, 
and a number of the fourth, fifth, and sixth magnitudes, 
and may be seen from May to September. 

The head of the giant is northward, and is near that 
of Hercules. It is marked by a fairly bright second- 
magnitude star, Alpha Ophiuchi, or Ras Alhague, the 
" head of the Serpent Charmer," situated at about five 
degrees east and two degrees south of Ras Algethi in 
Hercules, and nearly midway between Vega and Antares. 
His legs are braced wide apart, the right being immersed 
in the Milky Way, with the heel close to the tail of the 



The Night-Sky of Summer 95 

Scorpion, while the left foot is planted over its heart. 
The third-magnitude stars Beta, or Cheleb, and Gamma 
mark the right shoulder, while the fourth-magnitude 
star Chi indicates the left shoulder. Sabik, or Eta, a 
brilHant star of the third magnitude on the margin of 
the Milky Way, is in the right knee, and Zeta, also of 
the third magnitude, is in the left knee. The left 
hand, which grasps the serpent below the neck, is 
marked by the third-magnitude stars Delta and Epsilon. 
The right hand, which grasps the serpent near the tail, 
is marked by the fourth- and fifth-magnitude stars, 
Nu and Tau, while the feet are indicated by several 
small stars. 

Although, as noted by Hill, Ophiuchus is not counted 
among the zodiacal constellations, a part of it lies 
across the ecliptic, so that the sun, which occupies 
twenty-five days from November 21st to December 
1 6th, in passing from Libra to Sagittarius, spends 
sixteen days of the time in travelling through Ophiuchus. 

Aratus thus clearly describes the figure : 

His feet stamp Scorpio down, enormous beast, 
Crushing the monster's eye and platted breast. 
With outstretched arms he holds the Serpent's coils, 
His limbs it folds within its scaly toils. 
With his right hand, its writhing tail he grasps, 
Its swelling neck, his left securely clasps, 
The reptile rears its crested head on high 
Reaching the seven-starred Crown in northern sky. 

The head of the serpent — Serpentis Caput — lies 
about ten degrees south of the Northern Crown, and is 
marked by fiYe stars grouped in the form of a capital 
X, two of the stars being of the third magnitude, one of 
the fourth, and two of the fifth. From its figure it is 



96 The Call of the Stars 

sometimes called St. Andrew's Cross. Of the five 
stars, Beta and Gamma are in the feet of the X, Kappa 
in the centre, and Iota and Rho at the top. Winding 
down below this group are the third-magnitude star 
Delta, the second-magnitude star Alpha, in the serpent's 
neck about ten degrees below the head, and the third- 
magnitude star Epsilon in the body. Here the body 
of the serpent winds through Ophiuchus, and passing 
up on the eastern side of the giant to Aquila has one 
star of the third magnitude, Eta, in the coil adjoining 
Sobieski's Shield, and one of the fourth magnitude, 
Theta, which marks the tip of the tail — Serpentis 
Cauda, 
Statius thus refers to the reptile: 

Vast as the starry serpent that on high 
Tracks the clear ether and divides the sky, 
And southward winding from the northern Wain 
Shoots to remoter spheres its glittering train. 

According to Greek mythology, Ophiuchus repre- 
sents the famous physician and father of medicine, 
iEsculapius, the son of Apollo and Coronis, who was 
instructed in the art of healing and hunting by Chiron, 
the most celebrated among the centaurs. He is said 
to have taken part in the expedition of the Argonauts 
to Colchis, and in the celebrated hunt of the Calydonian 
boar. In later years he became so skilled in practice, 
that, it is said, he not only cured all the sick, but often 
restored the dead to life. Whereupon, Pluto com- 
plained to Jupiter that he was so diminishing the num- 
ber of the dead that his kingdom was in danger of 
being depopulated, ^sculapius having, at the earnest 
solicitation of Diana, just restored Hippolytus, the 



The Night-Sky of Summer 97 

son of Theseus, to life, Jupiter, fearing lest men, through 
his great skill, might contrive to escape death alto- 
gether, killed him with a flash of lightning, but after- 
wards, on the request of Apollo, placed him among the 
constellations. 

It is related that at the birth of ^sculapius, the 
inspired daughter of Chiron uttered this prophetic 
strain : 

Hail, great physician of the world, all hail! 
Hail, mighty infant, who, in years to come. 
Shall heal the nations and defraud the tomb ! 
Swift be thy growth! thy triumphs unconfined! 
Make kingdoms thicker, and increase mankind. 
Thy daring art shall animate the dead. 
And draw the thunder on thy guilty head: 
Then shalt thou die, but from the dark abode 
Rise up victorious, and be twice a god. 

Ophiuchus is also identified with Laocoon, a son of 
Antenor, and priest of Neptune, who with his two sons, 
during the siege of Troy, was attacked and strangled 
by two sea serpents, because he hurled a spear into 
the side of the wooden horse. His death has formed 
the subject of many ancient works of art, and its story 
was frequently related by ancient poets, such as 
Sophocles, Virgil, and others. A magnificent group 
representing the father and his two sons, entwined by 
two serpents, is still extant in the Vatican. 

The brightest star in Ophiuchus, known as Ras 
Alhague, the ''head of the Serpent-charmer," is a 
sapphire-blue star with a minute ninth-magnitude com- 
panion of a pale grey colour. It marks the giant's 
head, and may be located by drawing a line from Arc- 
turus to the head of the serpent, and prolonging it an 



98 The Call of the Stars 

equal distance. It is forty-four light years distant, 
has a proper or cross motion of ten miles a second, and 
is receding from the solar system at the rate of twelve 
miles a second. 

Ras Alhague rises a little north of east, and requires 
six hours and forty-six minutes to reach the meridian, 
when it is not quite three-quarters of the way up from 
the horizon to the zenith. It rises just after the sun 
sets in the middle of May, and culminates at 9 P.M., 
July 28th. 

Delta Ophiuchi, or Yed, the third-magnitude star 
in the left hand of the Serpent-bearer, is yellowish in 
colour, and has a minute tenth-magnitude companion 
of a pale lilac hue. Sabik, or Eta Ophiuchi, the brilHant 
third-magnitude star in the right knee, is of a pale 
yellow colour, and has a small bluish companion of the 
thirteenth magnitude. The fourth-magnitude star, 
Lambda Ophiuchi, or Marfik, has a close bluish- 
coloured companion of the sixth magnitude. Just east 
of Gamma Ophiuchi is an interesting binary known as 
70 Ophiuchi. It is one of the stars of the discarded 
asterism, ''Taurus Poniatowski," the Polish Bull, 
introduced in 1778 by the Polish astronomer Poczobut, 
in honour of the King of Poland. It has a period of 
about eighty-eight years. The magnitudes of the two 
component stars are, approximately, fourth and sixth. 
Rho, the larger of the two stars in the left foot of Ophi- 
uchus is of rather less than the third magnitude, and 
is situated just above Antares. It is noted as being 
the star around which Barnard discovered b}^ photo- 
graphy a wonderful nebula, a filmy cloud of sufficient 
density to obscure the light of the near-by stars. 

Alpha Serpentis, the leading star of the Serpent, is a 
pale yellow star with a minute fifteenth-magnitude 



The Night-Sky of Summer 99 

companion of a fine blue shade. It was known to the 
ancients by the name ''Unuk al Hay," and by astro- 
logers of the Middle Ages as "Cor Serpentis," or the 
''heart of the Serpent." Beta Serpen tis, a delicate 
double star in the serpent's under jaw, is of the third 
magnitude and of a bluish colour, with a ninth-magni- 
tude companion of a yellowish tinge. The star Theta 
Serpen tis, or Alya, is a charming double, the components 
being of nearly the same magnitude and not over one- 
third of a minute apart. It is situated over the little 
constellation of Sobieski's Shield, on the border of the 
Milky Way, and may be found by drawing a line from 
Beta Herculis through Alpha Ophiuchi. Then, too, 
a line drawn from Eta in the right knee of the Serpent- 
bearer to Gamma in the Soaring Eagle will indicate 
the direction of the tail of the serpent. 

On October 10, 1604, a white and surprisingly bril- 
liant temporary star, discovered by Brunowski and 
often called "Kepler's Star," broke out in the constella- 
tion Ophiuchus, but, after shining for some time as bright 
as a star of the first magnitude, it rapidly faded, and 
disappeared entirely about the end of March, 1606. 
In the summer of 1910, a new comet was discovered 
by Rev. Joel Metcalf of Taunton, Mass., drifting near 
the star Gamma Serpentis. The comet was a rather 
insignificant object, but was bright enough in the latter 
part of August to be seen with the naked eye. 

Lyra 

(The Lyre) 

Lying close to the edge of the Milky Way, south- 
east of the head of the Dragon, and west of the neck of 
the Swan, is the small, but beautiful constellation Lyra, 



100 The Call of the Stars 

or the Harp. It occupies the region of the heavens 
towards which the solar system is travelling, the so- 
called "Apex of the Sun's Way," being probably fairly 
near the fourth-magnitude star Delta in the middle 
of the Harp. It is noted because of its lucida, the 
brilliant steel-blue star Vega or Alpha Lyrae, the glory 
of the summer sky. To the old Arabian star-gazers, 
it was known as the "Falling" or "Swooping Eagle," as 
contrasted with Aquila near-by, the "Flying" or "Soar- 
ing eagle," and on some old maps was shown as an- 
Eagle with a harp slung around its neck. 

Longfellow, in The Occultation of Orion, thus alludes 
to the constellation: 

I saw with its celestial keys, 
Its chords of air, its frets of fire, 
The Samian's great ^olian lyre, 
Rising through all the seven-fold bars, 
From earth unto the fixed stars. 

In addition to Vega, Lyra contains one star of the 
third magnitude, five of the fourth, and a few of the 
fifth. It is easily located by a fine drawn from Arctu- 
rus through the Northern Crown, which leads directly 
to the Swan, and in its course passes over the Lyre. 
Then, too, the three stars in the neck of Aquila — 
the so-called "Family of Aquila" — point directly to it. 
Of the six stars forming a figure resembling a lyre, four 
dainty ones are arranged in an oblique parallelogram 
close by Vega, and by which the latter may be easily 
recognised. And again, Vega, Deneb, and Altair, 
form a well-known triangle by which they are readily 
identified in the sky. 

In mythology Lyra is the celestial harp, which 



The Night-Sky of Summer loi 

Apollo presented to Orpheus, the son of CEagrus and 
Calliope, and with which, instructed by the Muses, 
he charmed not only the wild beasts, but also the stones 
and trees upon Olympus, and even chained the rivers 
in their courses. While in search of his long-lost bride, 
a nymph named Eurydice, who died from the bite of 
a serpent, the skilled harpist succeeded in so charming 
the guardians of the Stygian realms that they allowed 
him to enter. So entrancing was the music of his 
magic harp, that it brought tears to the eyes of the 
Erinyes, the wheel of Ixion stopped, the marble block 
of Sisyphus stood still, and Tantalus forgot his raging 
thirst. Pluto and his consort Persephone, it is related, 
were so charmed that they promised to restore the 
beautiful Eurydice, on the condition that Orpheus 
would not look back while passing out of the nether 
world. To this he readily consented, but just as he 
was nearing the regions of the upper air, his desire to 
see that Eurydice was following, overcame him. Look- 
ing round he beheld her caught back into the infernal 
regions, and on frantically attempting to follow her, 
was refused admission, and never saw her again. His 
grief for her loss led him to wander aimlessly about the 
earth until his death, when his body was buried with 
divine honours at the foot of Olympus, while his lyre 
was placed by Jupiter among the stars at the interces- 
sion of Apollo and the Muses. 

Shakespeare, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona^ Act III., 
Scene 2, thus refers to it: 

For Orpheus' lute was strung with poet's sinews; 
Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones. 
Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans 
Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands. 



I02 The Call of the Stars 

Vega, or the ** Harp-Star," the dazzling leader of the 
constellation, is the most brilliant- star in the northern 
hemisphere, being close to the zero rank. And though 
Capella and Arcturus, its companions in its circuit 
around the pole, are its close rivals, it is surpassed in 
splendour by only three stars in the entire sky, namely, 
Sirius, Canopus, and Alpha Centauri, all southern stars. 
Canopus and Alpha Centauri, however, lie so far south 
that they cannot be seen in this latitude. 

It is a star of enormous magnitude and shines one 
hundred times more brightly than the sun would were 
it as far off. It belongs to the sirian type of stars, 
and hence is a much more rarefied body than either 
Capella or Arcturus which belong to the solar type. 
Then, too, if the supposition that the solar stars 
are at their hottest stage is correct, Vega is not so hot 
as either of these stars. It has the distinction of being 
the first star whose spectrum was successfully photo- 
graphed, Henry Draper having taken it in 1872. It 
has a proper or cross motion of about eleven miles a 
second. So distant is it — thirty-five light years — that 
although it is travelling towards the solar system at the 
rate of about ten miles a second, and the solar system 
is moving in its direction at the rate of twelve miles 
in the same period of time, half a million years or more 
must elapse before the sun and Vega pass by each 
other. 

Some fourteen thousand years ago Vega was the 
north polar-star, and in consequence of that slow shift 
of direction of the earth *s axis called Precession it will 
again occupy that position eleven thousand five hun- 
dred years hence. 

This sapphire sun is about twenty degrees nearer 
the north star than Arcturus, and only seven degrees 



The Night-Sky of Summer 103 

more distant from it than Capella, the nearest of the 
bright stars to the pole. Like Capella, it is so far 
north that it can be seen in this latitude at some hour 
of every clear night throughout the year. An opera 
glass will show clearly its delicate sapphire hue, and 
also the two small, yet conspicuous, stars, Epsilon and 
Zeta, which form with it a beautiful little triangle. It 
has a telescopiic, bluish companion star of the tenth 
magnitude revolving around it. It rises over in the 
far north-east, about three hours after Arcturus, and 
is on the opposite side of the pole from Capella. It 
rises nearly at the hour when Rigel, which it closely 
resembles in colour and magnitude, is setting a little 
to the south of west. It occupies nine hours in reach- 
ing the meridian, when it is very near the zenith. It 
rises when the sun sets, about the first week in May, 
and culminates at 9 p.m., August 12th. On any clear 
night throughout July and August, it may be seen 
shining with great brilliancy, directly overhead, between 
nine and ten o'clock. 

According to Chinese-Japanese legend, Vega was 
called the '' Spinning Damsel," who each year, on the 7th 
of July, was supposed to stand at one end of the Magpie 
Bridge over the Milky Way, if the weather was clear, 
awaiting the coming of her lover, the Shepherd-Boy 
star Altair. In the legend, the Shepherd-Boy fell in 
love with the Spinning Damsel, much to her father's 
anger, who banished them both to the sky, on opposite 
sides of the Milky Way, where the Shepherd-Boy be- 
came Altair, and the Spinning Damsel, Vega. It was 
decreed by the father that they should meet once a 
year if they could contrive to cross the celestial river. 
On the night of the 7th of July, their friends the mag- 
pies congregate at the crossing-point and form a bridge 



104 The Call of the Stars 

over which the lovers pass. After twenty-four hours 
the bridge disappears, as the magpies return to earth, 
and so the lovers cannot meet again for another year. 
Serviss mentions that in Korea, should a magpie be 
found in its usual haunts on this day, the children 
stone it for shirking its duty. 

According to Lafcadio Hearn, this story of the Star 
Lovers is the origin of the Japanese festival called 
Tanabata. Should it rain at the time set for the cross- 
ing, the meeting cannot take place, since the celestial 
river would become too wide to be spanned by the 
Magpie Bridge. Hence, rain falling on the Tanabata 
night is called the "Rain of Tears." 

To the ancient Britons, Lyra was known as "King 
Arthur*s Harp," to the early Christians as "King 
David's Harp," to the Persians as a "Lyre," and to the 
Czechs as the "Fiddle in the Sky." 

About eight degrees from Vega, and next to it in 
order of brightness, is Beta Lyrae, or Sheliak, a white, 
third-magnitude star (3.4) and one of the most noted 
and interesting of short-period variables. During a 
period of twelve days, twenty-one hours, and forty- 
seven minutes, it passes through two minima, only the 
alternate of which are equal. At one minimum it fades 
to magnitude 3.9 and at the other to 4.5. It is always 
a naked-eye object, and its variations are readily recog- 
nisable. It is an easy double in a two-inch instrument, 
and a triple star in a three-inch. It was discovered to 
be a variable star by Goodricke in 1784, and belongs to 
that type in which, the mutually eclipsing bodies are un- 
equal and both bright. Olcott refers to it as one of the 
ten stars that are said to be pear-shaped. It may be 
found by drawing an imaginary line from Vega towards 
Altair, when it will pass between Beta and Gamma. 




Mount Wilson Solar Observatory 

Plate VII. Ring Nebula in Lyra 




Mount Wilson Solar Observatory 

Plate VIIL Dumb-Eell Nebula in Vulpecula 



The Night-Sky of Summer 105 

Epsilon, a j^ellowish coloured star of the fourth 
magnitude, situated on the frame of the harp close to 
Vega, is a very curious star, and is known as a ''double 
double star." It can be divided into two stars by an 
opera-glass, or even by the unassisted eye. Viewed with 
a small telescope, each of the two components will be 
found to be again double. Gamma, or Sulafat, about 
two and a half degrees distant from Beta, is a lustrous, 
yellow star of rather less than the third magnitude. 
It is a spectroscopic binary, and has a minute distant 
bluish companion of the eleventh magnitude. Zeta 
also is a double star, and is situated about two degrees 
from Epsilon. It is a topaz-tinted star of the fourth 
magnitude, w^hile its companion is greenish in colour, 
and of the sixth magnitude. The distance be- 
tween the components is a little over two-fifths of a 
minute. 

Standing on a line between the stars Beta and Gamma 
and about two-fifths of the distance from the former 
star, is the celebrated Ring Nebula (Plate VII.), the 
only object of its class that will show its characteristic 
form in a moderate-sized telescope. In a three-inch 
telescope, it presents a dim, misty, appearance, and is 
about the apparent diameter of the planet Jupiter. 
In a more powerful instrument the nebulous ring ap- 
pears filled with excessively delicate nebula with a 
star-like condensation in the centre. Wolf finds that, 
owing to rapid rotation of the ring, the four gases com- 
posing it have become separated into four different 
layers. The smaller or innermost ring is composed of 
an unknown gas, the next la^^er consists of hydrogen, 
the next consists of helium, while the outermost ring 
consists of another unknown gas. 

On the line between Hercules and Lyra is the radiant 



io6 The Call of the Stars 

point of the swift meteors of April 20th, known as the 
*'Lyrids," which follow the track of the comet of 1861. 

Sagitta 

(The Arrow) 

Immersed in the Milky Way, north of Aquila and 
south of Cygnus, is the pretty little constellation 
Sagitta, or the Arrow. It contains five stars of the 
fourth and fifth magnitudes arranged in a row about 
seven degrees long, resembling an arrow pointing east. 
The stars Alpha and Beta form the butt of the arrow 
and Gamma its point. A line drawn from Vega to 
Albireo, or Beta Cygni, extended eleven degrees, meets 
Gamma and is almost perpendicular to the arrow. 

It is a constellation of great antiquity and, in classic 
story, has been identified as one of the arrows with 
which Hercules slew the vulture that gnawed the liver 
of Prometheus, when chained by Jupiter's order to a 
rock on the top of Mount Caucasus. According to 
Eratosthenes it was the arrow with which Apollo ex- 
terminated the Cyclopes for having furnished Jupiter 
with the thunderbolts and lightning to kill y^sculapius. 
It has also been regarded as the arrow of Cupid. It 
culminates at 9 p.m. on September ist. 

Aratus thus refers to it: 

There's further shot another Arrow 

But this without a bow. Towards it the Bird 

More northward flies. 

Lying between Sagitta and Cygnus is a small and 
unimportant constellation known as Vulpecula, the 
Fox. It is interesting telescopicalty for containing 
the nebula marked 27 M, long known as the '* Dumb- 
bell Nebula." (Plate VIII.) 



The Night-Sky of Summer 107 

Scutum Sobieskii 

(Sobieski's Shield) 

The inconspicuous little constellation Scutum Sobi- 
eskii, or Sobieski's Shield, was introduced by Hevelius 
in the latter part of the seventeenth century, in honour 
of the third John Sobieski, the heroic King of Poland, 
who defeated the Turks under the walls of Vienna and 
so saved Europe, and whose coat of arms the figure 
represents. It occupies a little triangtilar space situ- 
ated in an astonishingly bright part of the Milky Way, 
south-east of Aquila, between the serpent's tail and 
the head of the Archer. The group is commonly 
known as ''Scutum," and embraces one fourth-magni- 
tude, and f[.Ye fifth-magnitude stars, and also many 
fine clusters. According to Sir William Herschel it 
contained in fiYe square degrees of space over one- 
third of a million stars. One of the star-clouds, a 
naked-eye object, which has been photographed by 
Barnard, is said to look "like a gathering of fiery 
cirrocumuli, and yet it consists of nothing but stars." 

Aquila 

(The Soaring Eagle) 

South-east of Lyra and south of Cygnus, lying directly 
in the Milky Way, is the beautiful and striking star- 
figure called Aquila, the '' Flying" or ''Soaring" Eagle. 
It occupies a prominent position in the night-sky of 
summer and early autumn, and is frequently joined 
with Antinoiis, a constellation invented by Tycho 
Brahe as one asterism. In modern catalogues the 
double constellation is generally known under the name 
Aquila. It is figured as a great solitary bird — an 
eagle — flying towards the east across the Milky Way, 



io8 The Call of the Stars 

and its position can be easily found by its three principal 
stars Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. The three stars are 
close together and form a straight line, about five 
degrees in length, which, running athwart the Milky 
Way, points in a northerly direction nearly to Vega, 
and in a southerly direction to Alpha and Beta Capri- 
corni. The middle star is the brightest and is called 
Altair, and the lineal figure, the "Shaft of Altair." 
Sometimes these three stars have been mistaken for the 
three gems in the belt of Orion, although they are not 
so bright. They are never so alike as when late on a 
mid-October night Orion is coming up in the east 
and Aquila is going down in the west. The imevenness 
of the Aquila stars helps to distinguish them from the 
stars in Orion's belt, which are markedly uniform both 
in brilliance and spacing. 

The Galaxy, or Milky Way, which is supposed to be a 
vast ring of enormously distant stars made up of sub- 
sidiary spirals extending around the celestial sphere, 
is especially brilliant in this constellation, where it 
spans the heavens, like a great dimly-luminous arch, 
in two distinct branches, Aquila's principal stars being 
near the eastern edge of the eastern branch. 

Antinoiis, a youth of extraordinary beauty, in honour 
of whom the lower portion of the combined constella- 
tion was named, w^as born in Bithynia, and was a favour- 
ite of the Emperor Hadrian, being his companion in all 
his journeys. He was drowned in the Nile A.D. 122, 
and the emperor enrolled him among the gods. So 
great was Hadrian's grief that he caused a temple to 
be erected to his memory at Mantinea in Arcadia, and 
founded the city of Antinoopolis on the eastern bank 
of the Nile in honour of him. 

According to Greek fable the Flying, or Soaring, 



The Night-Sky of Summer 109 

Eagle was the bird of Jupiter which stood by his throne, 
the bearer of his thunder, about which ManiHus wrote: 

The towering Eagle next doth boldly soar, 

As if the thunder in his claws he bore: 

He's worthy Jove, since he, a bird, supplies 

The heavens with sacred bolts, and arms the skies. 

This famous bird is represented as bearing aloft in 
his talons a most beautiful boy, sometimes called 
Ganymedes, a shepherd-boy of Phrygia, whom Jupiter, 
desiring him for his cup-bearer in place of his daughter 
Hebe (who awkwardly tripped and fell on a solemn 
occasion, and was forced to resign her office), sent his 
eagle to seize and carry off from Mount Ida up to 
Olympus, the abode of the gods. Jupiter, it is related, 
compensated his bereaved parents, Tros (the builder 
of Troy) and Callirhoe, for their loss, by a pair of divine 
horses. 

Tennyson, in his Palace of Art, thus describes the 
picture representing the legend: 

Or else flush'd Ganymede, his rosy thigh 

Half-buried in the eagle's down, 
Sole as a flying star shot thro' the sky, 

Above the pillar' d town. 

Ganymedes has also been identified as Aquarius, the 
eleventh sign and twelfth zodiacal constellation. 

The curious Oriental legend of the Star Lovers and 
the Magpie Bridge, with which this constellation and 
Lyra are connected, was related in connection with the 
history of the latter constellation. 

The brilHant white star Altair, or Alpha Aquilse, the 
chief star of the constellation, Hes in the Milky Way, 



no 



The Call of the Stars 



about twenty degrees below Albireo or Beta Cygni, 
and on a line drawn from Arcturus through the head 
of Hercules. It is situated in the neck of the eagle 
and makes with Vega and Deneb a conspicuous acute- 
angled triangle, Alt air being at the apex. It is a 
fraction brighter than the first magnitude, and belongs 
to the sirian type of stars, its colour showing it to be in 
an early stage of its existence as a glowing star. It has 
a distant tenth -magnitude companion of a violet tint. 

Alt air is only about fourteen light years distant, has 
a proper or cross motion of eight miles a second, and is 
approaching the solar system at the rate of over twelve 
hundred miles a minute, or more than six htmdred 
million miles a year. Next to Sirius and Procyon, it is 
the nearest first-magnitude star visible from northern 
latitudes. It sends abroad ten times more light than 
the sun, but the earth receives about ninety billion 
times more light from the latter, by reason of its near- 
ness, than it does from Altair. It is one of the stars 
from which the moon's distance is taken, for computing 
longitude at sea. 

It rises almost eight degrees north of east, and takes 
six hours and a half to reach the meridian, when it is 
about two-thirds of the way up from the horizon to the 
zenith. In the middle of June it rises when the sun 
sets, culminates at 9 p.m., on September ist, and is in 
view, early in the evening, until the middle of December. 
Ovid thus alludes to its rising: 

Now view the skies, 
And you'll behold Jove's hook'd-bill bird arise. 



In astrology Altair was considered to be a star of ill 
omen, and portended danger from reptiles. 



The Night-Sky of Summer 1 1 1 

The uppermost star, next above Altair, in the row 
of bright stars, three abreast, already referred to as 
pointing to Vega, is called Gamma, or Tarazed, and the 
lowermost. Beta, or Alshain. Gamma is a golden- 
yellow tinted star of the third magnitude in the back 
of the eagle, and forms a pretty contrast with white 
Altair. Beta, a double star of a pale orange colour, 
in the neck of the eagle and the head of Antinoiis, has, 
there is reason to believe, grown dimmer in the last 
three hundred years, and is now of about the third and 
a half magnitude. Two third-magnitude stars, Delta 
and Lambda, the former in the southern wing and the 
latter in the left foot of Antinoiis, lie in a line extending 
towards Scutum. 

About eight degrees below Altair, in Antinoiis's right 
shoulder, is Eta, a remarkable, short-period variable, 
which changes every seven days, four hours, fourteen 
minutes, and four seconds, from the third-and-a-half 
magnitude, to the fourth-and-a-half, and back again. 
Its variability was discovered by Pigott in 1784. It is 
supposed to be a spectroscopic binary, and its greatest 
brightness continues only forty hours. It is a star of a 
yellowish colour, easily followed with the unaided eye, 
and is best seen in the early autumn evenings. The 
greenish-tinted third-magnitude star Zeta, along with 
Epsilon of the fourth magnitude, about two degrees 
apart and twelve degrees north-west of Altair, marks 
the tip of the tail. Theta, a third-magnitude star, 
in line with the three stars, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, is 
in the right wrist of Antinoiis. The variable star R, 
situated about midway between Zeta and Delta, is of 
a deep red colour, and in the space of 351 days changes 
from the sixth-and-a-half magnitude to the eleventh, and 
back again. 



112 The Call of the Stars 

Sagittarius 

(The Bow-man) 

The ninth sign and tenth constellation of the zodiac, 
Sagittarius, the Archer, lies near the southern horizon, 
between Scorpio and Capricornus, in a region crowded 
with beautiful nebulae and star clusters. It contains 
one star of about the second magnitude, ten of the 
third, and a number of the fourth and fifth magnitudes, 
and in it lies the most southerly point of the zodiac. 
The constellation may be seen during July and August 
and in the early hours of the evening in September. It 
represents a centaur, with the head and the shoulders 
of a man and the body and the legs of a horse, with bow 
drawn, aiming an arrow at the heart of the scorpion. 

Longfellow, in his Poet's Calendar, thus refers to it: 

The Centaur, Sagittarius, am I, 
' Born of Ixion's and the cloud's embrace: 
With sounding hoofs across the earth I fly 
A steed Thessalian with a human face. 

The group of stars can be easily recognised by a 
little figure resembling a straight-handled dipper, 
turned upside down, popularly known as the "Milk 
Dipper," because it lies partly in the Milky Way. This 
little dipper was known to the ancients as the "Ladle," 
and is formed by five stars of the third and fourth 
magnitudes, namely, Zeta, Tau, Sigma, Phi, and Lambda 
and is quite conspicuous during August and September. 
The inverted bowl of a larger dipper is outlined by the 
stars Zeta, Sigma, Lambda, and Delta, of which Gamma 
forms a short handle. The two dippers are nearly 
seventy degrees south of Vega, and are about as far 
south of the equator as Vega is north of it. A line 



The Night-Sky of Summer 113 

drawn from Deneb through Altair will, if produced, 
pass through the centre of the constellation. 

The upright, curved line of stars, on the right, 
formed by the second-magnitude star Epsilon, or Kaus 
Australis, the third-magnitude star Delta, or Kaus 
Meridionalis, and the fourth-magnitude star Lambda, 
or Kaus Borealis, represents the bent bow of the 
archer. Gamma, or Al-Nasl, a third-magnitude star, 
a little west of Delta, marks the arrow's tip. Whilst 
Zeta, or Ascella, a bright third-magnitude star, a little 
below Sigma, or Nunki, indicates the arrow drawn back 
by the right hand of the archer and about to be shot 
westward from the bow, which lies in the Milky Way. 
By a certain linking up of the stars, two bows can be 
outlined, one behind the other, the rear one display- 
ing a broken arrow. 

North of the fourth-magnitude star Tau, Pi of the 
third magnitude, and Omicron of the fourth magnitude, 
along with three smaller stars, mark the head of the 
centaur. Alpha, or Rukbat, and Beta, or Arkab, both 
fourth-magnitude stars in the left leg, lie too far south 
to be seen in this latitude. 

The sim enters the constellation Sagittarius on 
December i6th, and occupies it until January i8th, 
reaching the most southerly point of its path on Decem- 
ber 2 1 St. On December 31st, when the sun is in the 
middle of the constellation, the earth is closer to the 
sun than at any other time, and is then travelling most 
rapidly in its course. 

According to Greek fable, the Archer was the famous 
centaur, Chiron, son of Saturn and Philyra, who 
changed himself into a horse to elude the jealous en- 
quiry of his wife Rhea. He was famed for his skill in 
medicine, music, and archery, and instructed in the 



114 The Call of the Stars 

liberal arts some of the greatest heroes of his time. He 
taught ^sculapius medicine, Apollo music, and Her- 
cules astronomy. Being accidentally wounded by his 
friend Hercules with an arrow that had been dipped in 
the blood of the Lernasan monster, Chiron, realising 
that the wound was incurable, prayed Jupiter to de- 
prive him of immortality, that he might, by dying, be 
relieved from his excruciating pains. Jupiter granted 
his request, and translated him to a place among the 
constellations. 

Midst golden stars he stands refulgent now, 
And thrusts the Scorpion with his bended bow. 

Ovid. 

In astrology, Sagittarius is the House and Joy of 
Jupiter. Those born between November 22 d and De- 
cember 2 1st are said to be ruled by this sign. It is 
considered a lucky sign, and masculine. Dunkin says 
that Arcandum, an old astrologist, who published a 
book in 1542, declared that a person born under the 
sign Sagittarius, *'is to be thrice wedded, to be very 
fond of vegetables, to become a matchless tailor, and 
to have three special illnesses"; but as the last attack 
of sickness is to befall the patient at eighty years of 
age, it is not of paramount moment. 

The archer was the tribal symbol of Ephraim and 
Manasseh. Not far from Mu, a pale yellow multiple 
star of the fourth magnitude, in the north tip of the 
archer's bow, is the grand cluster 24 M, visible to the 
naked eye. A little south-west of Mu is the famous 
cluster 8 M, also a naked-eye object. It can be found 
by drawing a line from the star Phi to Lambda, and 
extending it an equal distance. It is said to be a cluster 
superposed upon a fine nebula. Two of the most 




Yerkes Observatory 

Plate IX. Star-Cloud and Black Holes in Sagittarius 



The Night-Sky of Summer 115 

marvellous so-called "coal-sacks" — dark spots where 
no stars appear — photographed by Barnard (Plate 
IX.), are in this cluster. To the north of this is the 
rich and celebrated nebula marked 20 M, discovered 
in 1764, and sometimes called the ''Trifid Nebula,'* 
a large gaseous nebula of strange vshape, traversed by 
dark rifts, as though it had been torn asunder by 
some wandering star drifting through it. The famous 
"Omega Nebula" marked 17 M, thus named from its 
alleged resemblance to the Greek letter Omega, is a 
fine, large, and bright object, easily seen with a small 
telescope. 

Centaurus 

(The Centaur) 

Lying between Hydra and the far-famed Southern 
Cross is the large and brilliant constellation Centaurus, 
the Centaur. It is in the southern sky so low down 
that the main part of it can be seen only in southern 
latitudes. Some of its northernmost stars are, how- 
ever, visible in middle latitudes from June to Jul}^. It 
is noted for having as its leader the nearest of all the 
stars, the celebrated Alpha Centauri, whose parallax 
was ascertained by Henderson in 1839. 

Alpha Centauri is a brilliant white star of nearly the 
zero magnitude, ranking next to Canopus, and lies in 
the line of the Milky Way. It is a beautiful binary, 
the smaller component being almost of the first magni- 
tude, with a period of revolution of about eighty-one 
years. It is four dnd a third light years distant, has 
a proper or cross motion of over fourteen miles a second, 
and is approaching the solar system at the rate of 
thirteen and a half miles a second. Beta Centauri is 



ii6 The Call of the Stars 

a brilliant white star of neariy the zero magnitude, 
about four degrees from Alpha. It is eighty-eight 
light years distant, and has a proper or cross motion 
of over three miles a second. These two stars, neither 
of which can be seen in these latitudes, are in the fore- 
feet of the Centaur, and are sometimes called the 
''vSouthern Pointers," because a line drawn from Alpha 
through Beta will point towards the Southern Cross, 
which is about thirty degrees from the vSouth Pole. 

Centaurus is further noted as containing the richest 
and most remarkable globular star cluster in the whole 
heavens. This famous cluster, which is known as 
Omega Centauri, is a closely compressed cluster of 
thousands of stars, and upon a clear dark night is 
visible to the unaided eye as a hazy star, in lustre 
similar to a star of the fourth or fifth magnitude. In 
the telescope it is a wonderful object, but can only be 
seen in the southern hemisphere. Like its northern 
rival — the Hercules cluster — it is populous with variable 
stars. 

Hercules 

(The Kneeling Hero) 

The large and important but straggling group of 
stars lying below the head of the Dragon, east of Bootes 
and the Northern Crown, north of Ophiuchus, and 
west of Lyra, is known as the constellation Hercules. 
It is not a brilliant constellation, having no star brighter 
than the third magnitude, but is interesting telescop- 
ically on account of the many double stars, clusters, and 
nebulae it contains. It is one of the oldest star-groups 
and in the early lists is often called the **Kneeler." 

The constellation was intended to immortalise the 



The Night-Sky of Summer 117 

name of Hercules, who is usually represented as in- 
vested with the skin of the Nemaean lion, swinging in 
his right hand a brass club, the gift of Vulcan, and 
holding in his left an apple branch in which serpents 
are entangled. 

Bryant, in The Constellations j alludes to him as: 

Hercules with flashing mace. 

The celebrated giant is figured as standing feet up- 
ward in the sky, with his left foot, pointed out by 
Gamma, on the head of the great dragon, and his head, 
indicated by the star Ras Algethi, nearly touching 
that of Ophiuchus. The group is most easily recognised 
by the striking figure, sometimes called the "keystone," 
made by the stars, Pi, in the right thigh, Epsilon and 
Zeta, in the abdomen, and Eta in the left thigh. The 
constellation, which is estimated to be about twenty 
million million miles distant, extends to within four 
degrees of the equator, and is best seen from May to 
October. 

According to Greek fable, Hercules, one of the great- 
est heroes of remote antiquity, was the son of Jupiter 
by Alcmene of Thebes, a granddaughter of Perseus. 
While yet a babe in his cradle, the jealous Juno sent 
two serpents to destroy Hercules, but the infant hero 
strangled them with his own hands. He was educated 
by the centaur Chiron, and as he grew up was instructed 
by Amphytrion in driving a chariot, by Autolycus in 
wrestling, by Eurytus in archery, by Castor in fighting 
with heavy armour, and by Linus in singing and playing 
the lyre. 

On the command of Jupiter, by the cunning artifice 
of Juno, he was subjected to the will of Eurystheus, his 



ii8 The Call of the Stars 

elder half-brother, for the space of twelve years, and 
was promised immortality if, among other achievements, 
he performed twelve difficult tasks for Eurystheus, 
universally known as the "twelve labours of Hercules." 

Let Hercules himself do what he may, 

The cat will mew, and dog will have his day. 

Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act V., Scene I. 

Sometime after completing his twelve labours, 
Hercules imwittingly put on a tunic that had been 
steeped in the poisonous blood of the centaur Nessus, 
whom he had slain with a poisoned arrow. It caused 
him terrible torture, to escape which he ascended 
Mount (Eta, where he erected a great funeral pyre, 
spread out the skin of the Nemasan lion, placed him- 
self upon it, and ordered Philoctetes, a son of Poeas 
the shepherd, to whom he had given Tiis bow and arrows, 
to set it on fire. When the pyre was burning, a cloud 
came down from heaven and, amid peals of thunder, 
carried him up to "many-peaked Olympus," where he 
was honoured with immortality, became reconciled 
to Juno, and married her daughter Hebe, for a time 
the cup-bearer of the immortals. 

Almighty Jove 
In his swift car his honour'd offspring drove; 
High o'er the hollow clouds the coursers fly, 
And lodge the hero in the starry sky. 

Ovid. 

The chief star of the constellation Ras Algethi, or 
Alpha Herculis, in the head of the giant, is a double 
star of the third magnitude, of especial charm and 
beauty. It may be easily foimd by drawing an imagin- 



The Night-Sky of Summer 119 

ary line from Pi through Delta, and continuing it for 
the same distance. Then, too, it may be known by 
its orange-red colour, and by a white star Ras Alhague, 
or Alpha Ophiuchi, about five degrees east of it, with 
which it makes a wide pair. It is an irregularly vari- 
able star, and at its minimum is of somewhat less than 
the fifth magnitude. Its variability was discovered 
by Sir William Herschel in 1795. Its companion star, 
which is about five seconds of arc distant, is of the 
sixth magnitude, and of an emerald or bluish-green 
colour. Ras Algethi forms an isosceles triangle with 
Beta or Komephoros and Delta, two third-magnitude 
stars in the shoulder. 

The constellation is teeming with beautiful double 
stars, which seem to display much more variety of 
colour than do single stars. 

Those double stars 
Whereof the one more bright 
Is circled by the other. 

Tennyson. 

The most interesting physical double in Hercules is 
Zeta, a third-magnitude star of a yellowish colour, 
with a companion of about the sixth magnitude, and 
of a bluish-green tint. It is situated in the belt, near 
Epsilon, between Gamma, in the Northern Crown, and 
Vega, and its distance is about twenty-three light years. 
It is a very close binary and the period of revolution 
is about thirty-four years. Its duplicity was first 
discovered by Sir William Herschel in 1782. Gamma, 
another double, of nearly the third magnitude in the 
right arm, is of a white colour, and has an eighth- 
magnitude companion of a lilac hue. Delta, also of 
nearly the third magnitude, is of a pale-green colour, 



120 The Call of the Stars 

with a companion star of the eighth magnitude and of 
a bluish colour. 

Mu, a yellowish star of the third-and-a-half magnitude 
in the left forearm, has an eighth-magnitude companion 
of a bluish colour, and is about thirty-one light years 
distant. Rho is a beautiful white star of the fourth 
and a half magnitude, with a green companion star of 
about the sixth magnitude. Kappa, or Marfik, a 
^'-ellowish fourth-magnitude star, in the right hand, has 
a sixth-magnitude companion of a pale red colour. 
The star 95 is a double, pecuHar in its colouring, in 
that one star is red and the other green, while the com- 
ponents are both of about the fifth magnitude. 

Hercules has a remarkable cluster of stars (Plate X.) 
situated about one-third of the distance between the 
stars Eta and Zeta, east of and close* to the Northern 
Crown. It is the most magnificent cluster visible to 
northern observers, and is known as 13 M (that is to 
say, the 13th in Messier 's Catalogue), or the "Great 
Cluster in Hercules." It is one of the supreme marvels 
of the universe, and is surpassed in richness by only 
two clusters in the entire heavens, namely its southern 
sisters Omega Centauri and 47 Toucanis. On a very 
clear dark night it is just visible as a dim speck to the 
naked eye, and in a small telescope it looks like a small 
nebula, while with the aid of a powerful instrument it is 
resolved into a universe of stars. It is roughly spheri- 
cal in outline, and there are crowded within its borders 
over six thousand stars, packed so closely together 
that the central part is simply a uniform blaze of light. 
According to Irving it appears to be surroimded by 
long, spirally radiating wisps of nebulous matter in 
which other stars are entangled. Recent photographs 
taken with the sixtv-inch mirror of the Moimt Wilson 




Yerkes Observatory 

Plate X. Star-Cluster in Hercules 




Mount Wilson Solar Observatory 

Plate XL Lace Nebula in Cygnus 



The Night-Sky of Summer 121 

Observatory show, it is said, not six thousand, but 
sixty thousand stars. Halley, who discovered it in 
1 714, alluded to it as one of the six nebulas known at 
that time. Like Omega Centauri, of which it is almost 
an exact dupHcate, it abounds in variable stars. 

Cygnus 

(The Flying Swan) 

Situated in the midst of the Milky Way, east of Lyra, 
and south of Cepheus, is Cygnus, the "Flying Swan," 
one of the finest constellations in the northern sky. It 
is represented by a figure of a star-spangled swan, with 
wide-spread wings, flying down the Milky Way, toward 
the south-west. 

Smith, in Come Learn of the Stars ^ thus alludes to it: 

Yonder goes Cygnus, the Swan, flying southward, — 
Sign of the Cross, and of Christ unto me. 

Cygnus is a prominent object in the summer night- 
sky, and contains one star of the second magnitude, 
five of the third, and a number of the fourth, fifth, and 
sixth magnitudes. It is visible from May to December, 
and is easily recognised by its most striking feature, 
the beautiful Northern Cross. The upright piece of 
the cross, lying parallel to the axis of the Milky Way, 
is over twenty degrees in length and is formed by the 
bright stars Alpha, Gamma, and Beta, together with 
a few faint stars, which also represent the outstretched 
neck, body, and tail of the flying swan. The arms of 
the cross and the outstretched wings of the "Bird" 
are marked by the stars Delta, Gamma, Epsilon, and 
Zeta. Sadr, or Gamma, the bright third-magnitude 



122 The Call of the Stars 

star at the intersection of the upright and the cross- 
piece, is about eighteen degrees south-east of Vega, 
midst a rich stream of faint stars. This cross is larger 
and more perfect than the far-famed Southern Cross, 
a small constellation near the south celestial pole, 
although its stars are perhaps not so brilliant. The 
early Christians regarded it as the "Cross of Calvary." 
Olcott, in his scholarly work Star Lore of All Ages, thus 
beautifully alludes to it as it appears on Christmas eve : 

At nine o'clock, this brilliant cross of stars stands upright 
on the western hills, outlined against the sky, as if beckon- 
ing all beholders onward and upward. A beautiful symbol 
of the Christian faith, glorious, perfect, and eternal. 

The constellation Cygnus is rich in interesting vari- 
ables, and in it are situated the brightest parts of the 
Milky Way, in the northern hemisphere. The "great 
bifurcation," which reaches to Centaru'us in the southern 
hemisphere, begins here. Between the stars Alpha, 
Gamma, and Epsilon, is one of the most remarkable 
dark gaps in the Milky Way, known as the "Northern 
Coal-sack." 

According to some authorities, the constellation re- 
presents the swan into which Jupiter transformed 
himself, when, incognito, he visited Leda, wife of 
Tyndarus, King of Sparta. Others suppose it to be 
Cycnus, son of Sthenelus, Ejng of the Ligurians, and 
an intimate friend and relative of Phaethon, that 
unhappy youth with whom the horses of the sun ran 
away. The legend relates that while he was lamenting 
the untimely fate of Phaethon and the melancholy 
end of his sisters, on the banks of the Eridanus, he was 
metamorphosed by Apollo into a swan, and placed 
among the stars. 



The Night-Sky of Summer 123 

In the tenth book of his Mneid, Virgil wrote: 

For Cycnus loved unhappy Phaethon, 
And sung his loss in poplar groves alone, 
Beneath the sister shades to soothe his grief. 
Heaven heard his song and hastened his relief, 
And changed to snowy plumes his hoary hair, 
And winged his flight to sing aloft in air. 

Deneb, or Alpha Cygni, sometimes called Arided, 
the leading star of the constellation, is a brilliant white 
star of rather less than the first magnitude. It is 
situated at the head of the cross and the root of the 
swan's tail, in one of the densest parts of the Milky 
Way, and is about six degrees farther north than Vega, 
and one degree farther south than Capella. A line 
drawn from Alpheratz, in the Square of Pegasus, to 
Vega, will pass close by it. Then, too, it forms with 
Polaris and Vega a right-angled triangle, the right 
angle being at Deneb. 

Deneb is a star of the same general type as Sirius, 
though perhaps a little more advanced in develop- 
ment. It is one of the most remote of the bright stars, 
approximate measurements placing it at about 350 
light years. It is approaching the solar system at the 
rate of thirty miles a second. It rises in the far 
north-east, and reaches the meridian, to the north 
of the zenith, in about ten hours. It rises when the 
sun sets about the middle of May, and culminates at 
9 P.M., September i6th. Like Capella and Vega, it is 
visible at some hour of the night at all seasons of the 
year, in this latitude. 

The star at the foot of the cross and in the beak of 
the swan is Albireo, or Beta Cygni, a fine double star 
of the third magnitude, notable on account of the 



124 The Call of the Stars 

charming contrast in the colours of its components, 
which are about thirty-four seconds of arc apart. It 
is readily resolved by a small telescope, and is an easy 
object in even a strong binocular or field-glass. It is 
one of the most beautiful and attractive double stars 
in the entire heavens. The larger star is orange-yellow, 
and the smaller, which is a fifth-and-a-half magnitude 
star, is sapphire-blue. It is approaching the solar 
system at the rate of about fifteen miles a second. 

The faint Httle star called "6i Cygni" is a most 
interesting double, famous as being the first star whose 
distance was (in 1838) accurately measured by the 
Prussian astronomer Bessel. The principal star is of 
a golden-yellow colour, and of about the fifth-and-a- 
half magnitude, while its companion is of the same 
colour, and of rather less than the sixth magnitude. 
It is barely visible to the naked eye on a clear night, 
but is easy to find with the aid of a binocular. It is 
situated on the opposite side of the cross from Vega, 
six degrees from Gienah or Epsilon in the right or east 
wing, and forms a fairly well-marked parallelogram with 
Alpha, Gamma, and Epsilon. 61 Cygni is one of the 
nearer stars in the sky, being only 10 J light years 
distant. It has a proper or cross motion of 49J 
miles a second, a large speed as stellar motions go, 
and is approaching the solar system at the rate of 
thirty-nine miles in the same period of time. 

About half-way between Deneb and Delta is Omicron, 
an orange-coloured fourth-magnitude star, which, in 
an opera-glass or field-glass, will be seen to have two 
companions of a bluish colour, one being of the fifth 
and the other of the seventh magnitude. 

The constellation is replete with nebulous clouds, 
and contains many deeply coloured red and orange 




Yerkes Observatory 

Plate XIL The North America Nebula in Cygnus 



The Night-Sky of Summer 125 

stars, hence this somewhat crowded portion of the 
heavens has been styled by some the "Red Region of 
Cygnus." Not far from Beta, in the neck of the swan, 
is the long-period variable star Chi Cygni. In a period 
of 406 days, which is gradually lengthening, it changes 
from the fourth-and-a-half to the thirteenth-and-a- 
half magnitude, reaching its maximum brightness in 
about 105 days. It is a fine red star, and its varia- 
bility was discovered by Kirch in 1686. 

The Lace Nebula, known as N. G. C. 6992 (Plate XL) 
is one of the most beautiful nebulae in the constellation, 
but unfortunately it is not within the range of small 
telescopes. Another remarkable object, invisible how- 
ever to the naked eye, is the diffused nebula known as 
the "North America" nebula in Cygnus (Plate XIL). 
It was discovered by Wolf and received its name from 
its shape, resembling, as it does, the map of North 
America. 

On the 24th of November, 1876, a temporary star of 
the third magnitude appeared in the constellation, but 
it faded so rapidly that in six days it was only of the 
fifth magnitude, afterwards apparently changing into 
a nebula. 

The "Royal Family" of the sky — the celestial repre- 
sentatives of Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, and 
Perseus — occupying, as they do, a conspicuous position 
in the night-sky of autumn, will receive attention in 
the next chapter. 

O, sweet summer, pass not soon, 

Stay awhile the harvest moon; 

O sweetest summer, do not go, 

For autumn's next, and next the snow. 

Christina Rossetti, in Seasons. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE NIGHT-SKY OF AUTUMN 

Referring to the vine-leafed autumn {autumnus pampincus), Virgil, 
addressing his second Georgic to Bacchus, writes : 

To thee his joys the jolly autumn owes, 
When the fermenting juice the vat o'erflows. 

When the sun arrives at the autumnal equinox, 
about the 23d of September, ic marks the beginning of 
autumn in the northern hemisphere, and of spring 
in the southern hemisphere. On that day, as at the 
vernal equinox about the 21st of March, the sun is 
perpendicular over the equator, and day and night are 
of equal length all over the earth. 

With the slow changing of the seasons the great, 
faint, summer groups of stars are slowly sinking in the 
west. The straggling Hercules and the brilliant Lyra 
are now low in the western sky, while the beautiful 
Northern Cross is a little west of the zenith. The stars 
of Bootes and the little circular group of the Northern 
Crown are about setting in the north-west, while over 
in the south-west are the three stars of the Flying Eagle 
which form the beautiful "shaft of Altair. " Ophiuchus 
and his Serpent are low down on the western horizon, 
the Scorpion has disappeared in the south-west, and the 
Archer is fast sinking from view. 

Almost exactly overhead, between the zenith and 

126 



CHART 
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SEP. 15,10 P. M 
OCT. I. 9 P.M. 
OCT. 15,8 P.M. 
NOV. I, 7 P.M. 
.NOV. 15.6 PM. 



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PATH OF PLANETS — 
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CHART 111-AUTUMN OTGHT SKY 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 127 

Polaris, and westward from Cassiopeia is Cepheus, with 
his gem the so-called "Garnet Star." South-east of 
the zenith, and nearly east of the Swan, is Pegasus, 
with its noble stellar figure, the Great Square of Pega- 
sus. Close to the winged horse is Equus or Equuleus, 
the Foal, while west of the Square of Pegasus, and east 
of the Flying Eagle, is the little, diamond-shaped con- 
stellation, Delphinus, or Job's Coffin. On the meridian 
and on the ecliptic, below Pegasus, is the Water-bearer, 
and directly beneath it, near the horizon, and east of 
the meridian, is Fomalhaut, the leading star of the 
Southern Fish, a conspicuous object on clear autumn 
nights. West and north of the Southern Fish, heading 
westward, is the constellation Capricomus, the Sea- 
goat or Goat-fish. East of the Southern Fish, and 
south of the Water-bearer, is the small and unimportant 
southern constellation Sculptor. Skirting the horizon 
in the south-east is Cetus, the Whale, or Sea-monster, 
with its variable Mira, the ''Wonderful." Directly 
above the whale is the long line of stars forming the 
constellation Pisces, or the Fishes, in which lies the 
vernal equinox. North-east of the Fishes, and above 
the head of the Whale, is the small but distinguished 
asterism Aries, or the Ram. 

High in the eastern sky, approaching the meridian, 
on the opposite side of the pole from The Dipper, along 
the course of the Milky Way, is the constellation 
Cassiopeia, or the "Lady in the Chair," with its dis- 
torted celestial letter "W. " Rising in the north-east 
is the Charioteer, marked by the brilliant yellow solar 
star, Capella, between which and Cassiopeia, east of 
the zenith, is Perseus with his Demon Star and Great 
Cluster. Above the Great Square of Pegasus, between 
it and Perseus, is the constellation Andromeda the 



128 The Call of the Stars 

*' Chained Lady," with its great and superb nebula 
visible to the naked eye on a clear night. Stretching 
from Polaris to Perseus, Auriga, and the Tiger, is 
Camelopardalis, the Giraffe. Low down on the north- 
em horizon, The Dipper is approaching the lower 
meridian from the west, and above it are the body and 
head of the Dragon. Just emerging from the groimd 
along the eastern horizon, a little north of east, is 
Taurus, with its standard first-magnitude star Alde- 
baran, and its wonderful star-groups, the Hyades and 
Pleiades. Passing through the zenith from north-east 
to south-west is the marvellously complex galactic belt, 
or Milky Way, along which may be foimd some of the 
most beautiful groups in the heavens. 

Capricornus 

(The Sea-goat) 

The tenth sign and eleventh constellation of the 
zodiac, Capricornus, the Sea-goat, Hes south-east of 
Aquila and west of Aquarius. It has no conspicuous 
stars, nor any very definitely outlined figure. As seen 
on a clear night the constellation has been likened to an 
inverted cocked hat, and again to the cross-section of 
a rowboat. And yet, after all, as Mrs. Martin in her 
Friendly Stars says, there is something about its dan- 
cing stars suggestive of a capering goat, if one does 
not try to be too definite. It is usually depicted as 
a sea-goat, headed westward, having the head and 
body of a goat, but the tail of a fish. Aratus thus 
describes it : 

the goat 
Dim in the midst, but four fair stars surround him, 
One pair set close, the other wider parted. 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 129 

Alpha Capricorni, or Algedi, and Beta Capricorni, 
or Dabih, two third-magnitude stars, two and a half 
degrees apart, in the right horn of the animal, are about 
twenty degrees south of Altair, and point towards it. 
A line drawn from Vega to the horizon, through Altair, 
will pass between them. Omega, a fourth-magnitude 
star marks the right knee of the kneeling Goat. The 
third-magnitude star Delta, or Deneb Algedi, and 
Gamma, or Nashira, are in the fish-tail. Below Beta 
is a pretty little triangle formed by the fifth-magnitude 
stars. Pi, Rho, and Omicron. In all, Capricomus con- 
tains four stars of the third magnitude, six of the 
fourth, and about ten of the fifth magnitude. 

In mythology, the constellation was sometimes identi- 
fied with Pan, the companion of Bacchus, and the god 
of everything connected with pastoral life. The legend 
relates that Pan, with some other deities, was feasting 
on the bank of the Nile, when the dreadful giant 
Typhon suddenly appeared in their midst. To escape 
his fury, they all fled, and assumed different shapes. 
Pan, taking the lead, plunged into the river, the upper 
part of his body assuming the form of a goat, and the 
lower part that of a fish. Desiring to preserve the 
memory of the caper, Jupiter turned Pan into a con- 
stellation in his metamorphosed state. In works of 
art. Pan is represented as a voluptuous being with 
horns, pug-nose, and goat's feet, sometimes in the act 
of dancing, and sometimes playing on the syrinx, or 
shepherd's flute. 

Another legend associated Capricomus with the goat 
that belonged to the nymph Amalthea, daughter of the 
King of Crete. Amalthea and her sister, Melissa, as the 
story runs, fed the infant Jupiter with the goat's milk 
9,nd honey. The father of the gods, as reward for their 



130 The Call of the Stars 

kind and valuable services, placed the goat in the skies 
and gave one of its horns to the nymphs. This horn 
was endowed with the wonderful power of becoming 
filled with whatever the holder desired, and was ever 
after known as the celebrated horn of Amalthea, com- 
monly called the "horn of plenty." According to an 
ancient Greek myth the constellation was the "Gate of 
the Gods, " the region of the stars through which the souls 
of men passed on their way to the realms of the blest. 

The star Alpha Capricomi, is a pretty, naked-eye 
double, and is easily separated with an opera-glass 
or binocular. The larger star is of the third magni- 
tude, and the other of the fourth, and both are of a 
bright yellow colour. In a telescope each star is seen to 
be triple. Beta Capricomi is also a beautiful widely 
double star, in an opera-glass. Its magnitudes are third 
and sixth, and its colours, yellow and blue. Delta is 
a beautiful double, the larger star being of a yellowish 
colour, and its minute companion of a purple tint. It 
is interesting as marking the approximate position of 
the discovery of the planet Neptime by Le Verrier in 
1846. 

In astrology Capricornus is generally considered a 
feminine sign and unfortunate. 

The sun enters the sign Capricornus about December 
2 1 St, but does not reach the constellation imtil January 
1 8th, which it occupies until the middle of February. 
Dante thus aUudes to it in the Paradiso: 

The horn of the celestial goat doth touch the sun. 

The two stars in the head of the Goat, namely Alpha 
and Beta, pass the meridian, three-eighths of the way 
up from the horizon, at 9 p.m. on September 15th. 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 131 

Delphinus 
(Job's Coffin) 

The beautiful and interesting little constellation 
Delphinus, the Dolphin, popularly known as Job's 
Coffin, lies south of Cygnus and east of Aquila. It is 
a finely marked diamond-shaped cluster, about ten 
degrees north-east of Altair, and is a fine sight in an 
opera-glass. 

The glory of the Flood and of the Stars. 

Manilius. 

It is easily recognised by four stars in the head of the 
Dolphin, three of which are telescopic doubles and 
somewhat variable. A little south and west of these 
four stars, which are called Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and 
Delta, is another star known as Epsilon, which marks 
the tail. A line drawn from Polaris through Deneb, 
prolonged thirty degrees, ends at the Dolphin. The 
constellation has no stars brighter than the fourth 
magnitude. 

In Greek mythology the starry Dolphin has been 
identified with the fish upon whose back Arion, the 
famous lyric poet and musician took his celebrated 
ride. Returning from Corinth to Sicily, where he had 
won some valuable prizes at a musical contest, he was 
seized by the rude sailors who coveted his treasures and 
meditated his destruction. Having been granted per- 
mission by his would-be murderers to play for the last 
time upon his cithara, he so charmed a school of the 
song-loving dolphins by his melodies that they crowded 
around the ship. Suddenly he threw himself into the 
sea, when one of the dolphins, acting as a life-saver, 



132 The Call of the Stars 

took him upon his back and brought him safely to 
Tsenarus, from whence he returned to Corinth. 

Another legend relates that it was the dolphin — the 
messenger and favourite of Neptune — that carried the 
nereid Amphitrite to that deity, to become his bride. 
In works of art, Neptune (Poseidon) may be easily 
recognised by his attributes, the dolphin, the horse, 
or the trident. 

The star Gamma is a fine double, and is of special 
interest on account of the beautiful contrasting colours 
of its components, which are eleven seconds of arc 
apart. The principal star is of the fourth-and-a-half 
magnitude, and of a yellowish colour, while the com- 
panion star is of the fifth-and-a-half magnitude and of a 
bluish-green colour. The slow companion star moves 
only about seven and a half degrees in one hundred 
years. Alpha, a star of the fourth magnitude, is a wide 
double, with a tiny companion star of about the tenth 
magnitude. 

Equuleus 
(The Little Horse) 

Lying midway between the head of Pegasus and the 
Dolphin is a little cluster of stars called Equuleus, or 
Equus, the "Foal,*' or little horse. It is a reduplication 
of Pegasus, the winged horse, and its figure, like that of 
its brother, is in an inverted position. It is an ancient 
asterism, and was formed by Hipparchus from stars 
formerly belonging to the Dolphin. It may be known 
by the elongated, irregular trapezium, formed by four 
of its stars, only two of which are as bright as the 
fourth magnitude. In the Ruhaiyatj Omar Khayyam, 
the astronomer-poet of Persia, thus alludes to the 
asterism: 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 133 

The flaming shoulders of the Foal of Heaven. 

In mythology, the asterism is said to represent the 
horse Celeris, which Mercury presented to Castor. 
Another myth associates it with the celebrated horse 
that sprang out of the rock which Neptvme shattered 
with his trident, when contending with Minerva for 
superiority in Olympian magic. 

Delta Equulei, a fourth-magnitude star with a fifth- 
magnitude companion, is noted because it possesses an 
extremely short period of revolution, which according 
to Hussey is about five and seven-tenths years. Epsilon 
is an interesting triple star of the fourth magnitude. 
Its companions belong to the fifth and tenth magni- 
tudes respectively. The larger companion stands 
very close to the principal star, and is of interest on 
account of its period of revolution being only eleven 
years. 

Equuleus is on the meridian about 9 p.m., September 
24th. 

Aquarius 

(The Water-bearer) 

The eleventh sign and twelfth constellation of the 
zodiac, Aquarius, the Water-bearer, is a large, but not 
very conspicuous straggling constellation lying east of 
Capricomus, south of Pegasus and Delphinus, and 
north of Piscis Australis. It contains no stars brighter 
than the third magnitude, but is important astronomi- 
cally, owing to its position in the zodiac, and its tele- 
scopic richness. It has been represented from time 
immemorial by the figure of a man pouring out a stream 
of water from an urn. The constellation is best seen 
from August to November, and the major part of it 



134 The Call of the Stars 

lies south of the ecliptic. The sun enters it about 
February 14th and occupies it until March 14th. 
In Longfellow's translation of Dantej it is written: 

The sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers, 
And now the nights draw near to half the day. 

Situated at the northern limit of the constellation, 
intersected by the equator, is an exceptionally pretty 
group, forming a Y-shaped figure or a triangle, which 
marks the right hand and the overturned urn or water- 
jar of Aquarius. The bright stars forming the figure, 
which serves to readily distinguish the constellation, 
are Gamma, Eta, Pi, and Zeta. From this group can 
be traced small groups of faint stars, many of them in 
pairs and triples, which lead downward and eastward 
in wavering curves to Fomalhaut, a first-magnitude 
star in the mouth of the Southern Fish. 

Aquarius is a natural emblem of the rainy season, 
and by the ancient Egyptians it was imagined that its 
setting caused the rising of the Nile. In mythology it 
is sometimes identified with Deucalion, son of Pro- 
metheus and Clymene, who, with his wife Pyrrha, 
escaped from the celebrated ThessaHan nine-days' de- 
luge in 1500 B. c. Some say it commemorates the 
youth Ganymedes, whom Jupiter snatched to Mount 
Olympus to be the cup-bearer of the gods. 

In astrology it is a masculine sign and fortimate. Its 
natives are those bom between January 20th and 
February 19th. 

The chief stars in the constellation are Alpha, Beta, 
Gamma, Delta, and Phi, all of about the third magni- 
tude. The leading star Alpha Aquarii, or Sadalmelik, is 
only one degree south of the celestial equator, and marks 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 135 

the right shoulder, while Beta, or Sadalsuud, twelve 
degrees farther west, marks the left shoulder. A line 
drawn from Alpheratz through Markab, in the Great 
Square of Pegasus, and produced towards the south- 
west will pass near Alpha Aquarii. Five degrees east 
of Alpha is Gamma, in the right arm. Zeta, the central 
star of the little Y-shaped figure representing the water- 
jar, lies close to the celestial equator, and is a note- 
worthy long-period binary. The two stars are of the 
fourth magnitude, and of a white colour. They are 
separated by a little more than three seconds of arc, 
and the period of revolution is estimated at about 
750 years. Delta, or Scheat, in the right leg, marks the 
radiant point of the meteors, known as the Delta Aqua- 
rids, which appear from the 27th to the 29th of July. 
With Beta and Gamma it forms an isosceles triangle, 
the vertex being at Gamma. About one degree west of 
Nu towards Epsilon, or Al Bali — two fourth-magnitude 
stars in the left forearm — is situated the remarkable 
"Saturn-like" planetary nebula, 4628. It was dis- 
covered by Herschel in 1782, and is approaching the 
solar system at the rate of about seventeen miles a 
second. 

Piscis Australis 

(The Southern Fish) 

Lying south of Aquarius is Piscis Australis, the 
Southern Fish, a small constellation represented as a 
fish drinking the water poured out of the water-jar of 
Aquarius. It is an ancient asterism, and is marked out 
by the brilliant star Fomalhaut in the mouth of the 
fish, and a few fifth-magnitude stars to the west of it. 

In Greek legend it is associated with the story of the 
adventure of Venus and her son Cupid, on the banks 



136 The Call of the Stars 

of the Euphrates, with the famous Typhon, a terrible 
fire-breathing giant with a hundred heads, fearful eyes, 
and awful voices. To escape the monster, Venus threw 
herself with the infant Cupid into the river, and both 
were changed into fishes. Typhon is said to have been 
killed, finally, by Jupiter with a flash of lightning, and 
now lies under Motmt ^tna. 

The leader of the constellation is Fomalhaut, a star 
of the first magnitude, and the brightest star in this 
comparatively starless region of the sky. It is the 
farthest south of any very bright stars visible in this 
latitude. It may be seen in the southern sky from 
August to the end of December, and is a conspicuous 
object during the early evenings of autumn. An 
imaginary line drawn through the pointers to the pole 
star, and extended southward one hundred and twenty 
degrees, points to it. Then, too, the two western stars 
of the Great Square of Pegasus, namely Scheat and 
Markab, point in its direction. 

Fomalhaut is of a reddish colour, and has a distant 
dull blue companion of the ninth-and-a-half magnitude. 
It is twenty-three and a half light years distant, and 
has a proper or cross motion of eight miles a second. 
It gives out about twenty-one times as much light as 
the sun. It was one of the four Royal Stars of astrology, 
and was also regarded as one of the four guardians of 
heaven. Astrologically it portended eminence, fortune, 
and power. It is a star much used by navigators in 
determining longitude at sea. At the Cape of Good 
Hope, and in similar latitudes, it is a zenith star. It 
rises in the far south-east and takes only four hours to 
reach the meridian, when it is less than one-fourth 
of the way up from the horizon to the zenith. It 
culminates at 9 p.m. on October 25th. 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 137 

Pegasus 

(The Flying Horse) 



Pegasus, the Flying Horse, is a large and notable 
constellation situated north of Aquarius, east of Del- 
phinus, and west of Pisces. It is a conspicuous feature 
of the autiimn skies, and its chief object is a large 
quadrangular stellar figure called the Great Square of 
Pegasus. Each side of the square is nearly eighteen 
degrees in length, and the four stars which mark its 
comers, are Alpha Pegasi or Markab, Beta or Scheat, 
Gamma Pegasi, and Alpheratz the Alpha star of 
Andromeda. Alpheratz is the upper left-hand star of 
the square, the upper right-hand one is Scheat, the 
lower right-hand one is Markab, and the lower left- 
hand star is Gamma. The square is a prominent stellar 
landmark, and is sometimes called the "Big Diamond." 
It is all the more striking on account of its scarcity of 
stars, and is easily recognised during autumn and 
winter, a small triangle on the north-west corner helping 
to identify it. It marks the body of the horse, and the 
eastern third of the constellation. 

Pegasus, often referred to as the " Half -Horse, *' is 
represented as a winged horse in an inverted position, 
flying westward, with his forefeet pawing the sky, 
although the group bears but little resemblance to a 
horse. According to fable it is the celebrated white- 
winged horse that sprang from the blood of the hateful 
Gorgon Medusa, after Perseus had cut off her head. 
Rising to the abodes of the immortals, he was tamed by 
Neptime or Minerva, and for a time was employed to 
carry thunder and lightning for Jupiter. He was given 
to Bellerophon, son of Glaucus, and grandson of 
Sisyphus, to aid him in conquering the Chimasra, a 



138 The Call of the Stars 

hideous, three-headed, fire-breathing monster, part goat, 
part lion, and part serpent, whom lobates, King of 
Lycia, had ordered him to destroy. With the aid of a 
golden bridle, which Minerva had given him, Bellero- 
phon caught Pegasus while he was drinking at Pirene, a 
celebrated fountain at the famous Grecian city, spoken 
of in Horace as "Two-sea*d Corinth." 

Bestride the horse, Bellerophon rode through the 
air, and killed the Chimaera with his arrows. The 
Chimaera vanquished, Bellerophon attempted to mount 
the heavens on the back of his winged steed. But 
Jupiter, angered at his presumption, sent a gad-fly to 
sting Pegasus, so that he dismounted his rider, who fell 
headlong to the earth. Pegasus, however, rid of his 
burden, continued his flight upwards and was placed 
by Jupiter among the constellations. 

Pegasus was a great favourite with the Muses, 
because from his magic hoof -print gushed a fountain 
called the Hippocrene or Pons Caballinus, on the steep 
and rocky Acro-Corinthus, a moimtain nineteen hundred 
feet in height, which served as the citadel of Corinth, 
and was in the words of Philip of Macedon, "one of the 
fetters of Greece. " Serviss says that modem travellers 
may still see this foimtain full of water. Bryant thus 
refers to it : 

The poetic steed 
With beamy mane, whose hoof struck out from earth, 
The fount of Hippocrene. 

This fabled spring, at which, it is said, every poet must 
drink ere he can soar on Pegasean wing, was surroimded 
by a grove sacred to the Muses, which was adorned with 
some of the finest works of art. Spenser, in one of his 
poems, writes: 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 139 

Then whoso will with virtuous wing essay- 
To mount to heaven, on Pegasus must ride, 
And with sweet Poet's verse be glorified. 

Pegasus is often seen represented in ancient works, 
along with Minerva and Bellerophon. Early Christians 
thought that the figure represented the ass on which 
Christ rode in triumph to Jerusalem. Longfellow, in his 
poem, Pegasus in Pounds represents the magic steed as 
straying into a certain quiet New England village, 
and being put into the poimd : 

Once into a quiet village, 

Without haste and without heed. 

In the golden prime of morning. 
Strayed the poet's winged steed. 

Thus upon the village common. 
By the schoolboys he was found; 

And the wise men, in their wisdom. 
Put him straightway into pound. 

And the curious country people, 
Rich and poor, and young and old. 

Came in haste to see this wondrous 
Winged steed, with mane of gold. 

On the morrow, when the village 

Woke to all its toil and care, 
Lo! the strange steed had departed. 

And they knew not when or where. 

But they found, upon the greensward, 
Where his struggling hoofs had trod, 

Pure and bright, a fountain flowing 
From the hoof -marks in the sod. 



140 The Call of the Stars 

The brightest star in Pegasus is Enif, or Epsilon, a 
wide, double star of a yellow colour, and of the second 
magnitude, with an eighth and a half magnitude com- 
panion of a violet hue. It lies about ten degrees east of 
the Dolphin, the diamond-shaped group of stars popu- 
larly known as Job's Coffin. Markab, or Alpha, is a 
white star of about the second magnitude, at the 
junction of the animal's wing and shoulder. It rises 
to the north of east, and occupies about seven hours in 
reaching the meridian, when it is nearly three-fourths 
of the way up from the horizon to the zenith. It is a 
spectroscopic binary, and it comes to the meridian at 
9 P.M. on November 3d. Scheat, or Beta, in the left 
foreleg is an irregular variable, of about the second 
magnitude, and of a reddish-yellow colour. It is reced- 
ing from the solar system at the rate of about four miles 
a second. A line from Alpheratz to Markab, prolonged 
an equal distance, passes through Zeta in the neck, and 
ends at Theta, which is at the top of the head. Enif is 
in the nose of the imaginary horse, while Gamma is 
situated on the extremity of its wing, and is receding 
from the solar system at the rate of about three miles 
a second. Alpheratz, with Gamma, and Caph, or Beta 
Cassiopeiae, lie very nearly on the equinoctial colure or 
prime meridian of the heavens, which passes through 
the pole and the vernal equinox, and hence have been 
termed the ''Three Guides." 

The star 85 Pegasi, a few degrees below Alpheratz 
to the south-west, is one of the most interesting of 
binary systems. It takes rather more than twice 
as long as Kappa Pegasi (with a period of eleven 
and a half years) to complete its orbit. It was 
discovered to be a double star by S. W. Burnham in 
1878. 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 141 

Triangulum 

(The Triangle) 

Lying between Andromeda and Aries is the small 
but beautiful, ancient asterism known as Triangulum, 
the Triangle. The figure was also called Delta, or 
To Delta ton, from its likeness to the Greek letter Delta. 
A line drawn from Almaak in Andromeda to Hamal in 
Aries will pass through it. 

Beneath Andromeda, three lines compose 
The Triangle. On two sides measured equal, 
The third side less. 

Aratus. 

The comers of this long slim triangle are marked by the 
third-magnitude star Beta in the upper right-hand 
corner, the fourth-magnitude star Delta in the upper 
left-hand comer, and Alpha also a fourth-magnitude 
star at the apex or southern point of the figure. The 
star Alpha culminates at 9 p.m., December 6th. 

A beautiful spiral nebula, 33 M, visible in a small 
telescope, lies just off a line from Alpha in the Triangle 
to Beta in Andromeda. 

Triangulum is noted as marking the place where Piazzi 
on January i, 1801, found Ceres, the first planetoid or 
minor planet to be discovered. 

Aries 

(The Ram) 

^ The first sign and second constellation of the zodiac, 
Aries, the Ram, is a small but important constellation 
lying east of the northern fish of Pisces and north of the 
head of Cetus. The reverted head of the Ram is in the 
western part of the constellation, and can be recognised 



142 The Call of the Stars 

by the two prominent stars Alpha, or Hamal, and Beta, 
or Sheratan, five degrees apart, with a fainter one, 
Gamma, or Mesarthim, drooping from them, the three 
stars forming an obtuse triangle. A small group of 
fourth- and fifth-magnitude stars, about ten degrees 
south-west of the Pleiades, marks the tail. 

In the time of Hipparchus, who flourished in the 
second century B.C., Aries was the leader of the host of 
the zodiac, and the vernal equinox was just below 
Gamma Arietis. About a.d. 420, his leadership — as a 
constellation, not as a sign — was transferred to Pisces. 
The sign Aries remains the first of the zodiac, but owing 
to the precession of the equinoxes is occupied by the 
constellation Pisces, and will soon pass to Aquarius. 
As noted in Chapter I., the name "first point of Aries" 
is still applied to it by time-honoured usage. 

First from the east, the Ram conducts the year. 

A line drawn from Beta Tauri or El Nath to the 
Pleiades, and continued for about the same distance 
will reach Aries's head. The constellation may be seen 
every evening from late September to April, and the 
sun passes through it from April i6th to May 13th. 

In mythology, Aries represents the ram with the 
golden fleece of Argonautic fame. ManiHus thus refers 
to it: 

First Aries, glorious in his golden wool, 
Looks back and wonders at the mighty Bull. 

According to legend Athamas, King of Thebes in 
Bceotia, had two children named Phrixus and Helle, 
by Nephele, whom he afterwards repudiated, and 
married the mortal Ino. Being persecuted by Ino, their 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 143 

stepmother, who desired to sacrifice Phrixus to Jupiter, 
the two children were rescued by Nephele, and rode 
away through the air towards the east, upon the back 
of a ram which bore a golden fleece, the gift of Mercury. 
In their journey, Helle, Phrixus's sister, was so imfortu- 
nate as to drop off into the sea, between Sigeum and 
the Chersonesus, and was drowned. The sea was 
called after her, the Sea of Helle, or the Hellespont. 

Longfellow, in his translation from Ovid, thus alludes 
toHelle'sfall: 

The Ram that bore unsafely the burden of Helle. 

Continuing his flight, the Ram bore the boy Phrixus 
to Colchis, at the eastern end of the Black Sea. In 
gratitude for his safe deliverance, Phrixus sacrificed the 
Ram to Jupiter, and gave the golden fleece to King 
JEtes, his protector, who fastened it to an oak tree in 
the sacred grove of Ares, under guard of a sleepless 
dragon. The fleece was afterwards carried away by 
Jason and the Argonauts, and the ram was placed by 
Jupiter among the constellations. Aries has also been 
identified with the ram into which Zeus changed him- 
self to escape the pursuit of the giants. 

Astrologically considered, Aries, like Scorpio, is the 
house and joy of Mars. It is a masculine sign, and is 
regarded as fortunate. 

The chief star of Aries, marking his forehead, is 
Alpha, or Hamal, a yellowish star of the second magni- 
tude. It lies near the moon's path, and is one of the 
stars by which terrestrial longitude is reckoned. It 
is about forty light years distant, has a proper or cross 
motion of eight miles a second, and is approaching the 
solar system at the rate of nine miles a second. It 



144 The Call of the Stars 

rises in the north-east, about fifteen minutes before 
Capella, and takes about seven hours and a half to 
reach the meridian, when it is a little more than three- 
quarters of the way up from the horizon to the zenith. 
It culminates at 9 p.m., December nth. 

Beta, or Sheratan, is a white star, a little brighter 
than the third magnitude, and is situated about three 
degrees below Hamal, the two stars marking the base 
of the two horns of the Ram. The star Gamma, or 
Mesarthim, an easy double, is separable in a small 
telescope. The principal star is of the fourth magnitude 
and of a white colour, and the companion star is of the 
fourth-and-a-half magnitude and of a yellowish colour. 
Gamma was discovered to be double by Robert Hooke, 
while observing a comet near the star in 1664, but was 
not, as is sometimes stated, the first double star dis- 
covered, Riccioli having recorded the duplicity of Mizar, 
or Zeta, in Ursa Major, in 1650. Epsilon is a very close 
double, with a principal star of the fifth-and-a-half 
magnitude and of a pale yellow colour, and a whitish 
companion of the sixth magnitude. Lambda Arietis is 
a wide double, the larger star being white in colour and 
of the fifth magnitude, while the smaller star is of the 
eighth magnitude and of a bluish colour. 

Perseus 

(The Champion) 

Directly north of the Pleiades, between Auriga and 
Cassiopeia, in a very brilliant part of the Milky Way, 
lies the rich and beautiful constellation Perseus. It is 
somewhat irregular in form, and about twenty-eight 
degrees in length, and is for the most part a circumpolar 
constellation. It can be easily traced by means of a 
curved line of stars running from Cassiopeia to Capella, 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 145 

concave towards the Greater Bear, and usually termed 
the ** Segment of Perseus. '* On old star-maps the con- 
stellation figure is represented as that of the Champion 
Perseus striding across the sky, with an enormous 
sword in his right hand, the head of Medusa in his left, 
and wings at his ankles. Aratus, in his Skies y as trans- 
lated by Poste, thus alludes to the gallant hero : 

He in the north-wind stands gigantic, 

His right hand stretched towards the throne 

Where sits the mother of his bride. 

As one bent on some high deed, 

Dust-stained he strides over the floor of heaven. 

Perseus is fabled to have been the son of Jupiter and 
Danae. His mother's father, Acrisius, feared him and 
tried to make away with both him and his mother, by 
casting them, locked up in a chest, into the sea. They 
were rescued, however, by a fisherman, and carried to 
Polydectes, King of Seriphus (one of the Cyclades 
group of islands in the ^gean Sea), who received them 
kindly, and at whose court they afterwards lived. 
When Perseus was grown up, and looked not with 
favour on the king's proposed marriage with Danae, he 
was ordered by Polydectes to bring him as a wedding 
gift the head of Medusa. Now Medusa, with her two 
sister Gorgons, was equipped with enormous tusk-like 
teeth, brazen claws, and golden wings, while hissing 
serpents crowned her head instead of hair. So hideous 
were the features of a Gorgon that to look at one, was 
to be turned into stone. Favoured by the gods, how- 
ever, and accoutred for his perilous adventure, with 
Pluto's helmet of invisibility, Minerva's wonderful 
shield that was as bright as a mirror, and Mercury's 
winged sandals, he mounted the air and tracked the 



146 The Call of the Stars 

Gorgon to her sea-girt cave near Tartessus. Finding 
the three Gorgon sisters asleep, and fearing to gaze in 
Medusa's face, he looked upon the image reflected in 
Minerva's polished shield, and with a backward stroke 
of his magic blade, he cut off her head and flew away 
with it in safety. 

The victor Perseus, with the Gorgon's head, 
O'er Libyan sands his airy journey sped. 
The gory drops distilled, as swift he flew. 
And from each drop envenomed serpents grew. 

On his homeward flight through the air, Perseus 
beheld Andromeda, the Ethiopian maiden, chained to 
the rocks, and about to be devoured by the slimy sea- 
monster, Cetus. With lightning speed he rushed to her 
aid, turned the monster into stone by showing it the 
Gorgon's bleeding head, gallantly released the fair 
Andromeda, conducted her back to her father's court, 
and later married her. He gave the winged sandals and 
the helmet to Mercury who restored them to the 
nymphs and to Pluto, and handed the head of Medusa 
to Minerva, who placed it in the centre of her shield or 
breastplate. Some time after, at the request of Minerva, 
the noble pair (Andromeda and Perseus) were given a 
place in the sky, where they may be seen to this day — 
worthy and popular members of the so-called "Royal 
Family of Starland." 

Algenib, or Mirfak, the Alpha of the constellation, is a 
lilac coloured star of the second magnitude, and is 
situated in the middle of the segment of Perseus, on the 
armour-clad breast of the hero, about ten degrees north 
of Algol. It is a beautiful star of the solar type, lying 
directly in the Milky Way, and resembles Altair in that 
it has a bright companion on either side. It is a fine 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 147 

spectacle for the opera-glass, binocular field-glass, or small 
telescope . Algenib is about forty -four light years distant , 
has a proper or cross motion of one mile a second, and is 
approaching the solar system at the rate of seven miles 
a second. It passes the meridian about fifteen minutes 
after Algol, but is nine degrees farther north. 

The most noted star in the constellation is Beta 
Persei, or Algol, the most remarkable periodic variable 
star in the heavens. It lies in a sort of offshoot, a little 
south-east of Algenib, and forms a triangle with it and 
Almaak, the star which marks the foot of Andromeda. 
It shines in Medusa's head, which is represented by a 
group of five or six stars hanging from Perseus's right 
hand, and is popularly known as the "Demon Star" or 
the "Winking Demon." It may be easily identified 
as being rather less than half-way upon a line drawn 
from the Pleiades to the distorted "W" of Cassiopeia. 
Then, too, another easy way to identify it is to let the 
four bright stars in the square of Pegasus represent a 
"stew-pan," and three trailing stars — Delta and Beta in 
Andromeda, and Algol in Perseus — represent its slightly 
bent handle, with Algol at the end of the handle. The 
stars. Beta, Andromedas, Beta Persei, and Alpha Per- 
sei, form a greater "W" just beneath the smaller 
though more distinct " W* of Cassiopeia. 

The variability of Algol was first scientifically noted 
by Montanari, an Italian, in 1669, but its periodicity 
was first accurately determined in 1783 by Goodricke, 
an English astronomer. Its period of revolution is two 
days, twenty hours, forty-eight minutes, and fifty-five 
seconds. It remains for the greater part of this time — • 
that is for two days, eleven hours, and thirty minutes — • 
at its maximum of nearly the second magnitude. Sud- 
denly it begins to fade, and in about four and a half 



148 The Call of the Stars 

hours, loses three-fourths of its light. When at mini- 
mum — its point of faintest brilHancy — it shines as a 
star but little brighter than the fourth magnitude. In 
about eighteen minutes it begins to brighten again, and 
in about the next four and a half hours regains its 
normal brilliancy. All of these variations are within 
the reach of the unassisted eye, and the most con- 
venient time to watch them is through the hours of 
the early evening in autumn. Its singular variability is 
apparently due to its having a relatively dark sister, 
an enormous invisible body, about the size of the sun, 
circling around it with great speed, at a distance of 
only about thirty-two hundred thousand miles, and at 
regular intervals partly eclipsing it. The diameter of 
Algol is given as about one million miles, and that of its 
companion as about eight hundred thousand miles. 
To astrologers, Algol was known as the most unfortu- 
nate and dangerous star in the heavens. 

Algol is a star of the sirian type and is approaching 
the solar system at the rate of two miles a second. No 
parallax has ever been found for it. It rises in the far 
north-east about an hour earlier than Capella, the 
shepherd-star, and occupies nine hours and twelve 
minutes in reaching the meridian, when it is not far 
from the zenith. It rises at sunset in the middle of 
September, and culminates at 9 p.m. on December 23d. 

Midway between Algenib in the "Segment of Per- 
seus'* and Cassiopeia, is a magnificent double cluster of 
stars (Plate XIII.), visible to the naked eye as a small 
hazy patch of light in the Milky Way. It is known as 
the *' Great Cluster of Perseus, " and is considered to be 
the finest of all irregular star-clusters. It is sometimes 
called "Chi Persei," and forms, in the figure of the 
constellation, the "Sword-Hand of Perseus.'* When 




Yerkes Observatory 

Plate XIII. Double Cluster In Perseus 




Mount Wilson Solar Observatory 

Plate XIV. Crab Nebula in Taurus 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 149 

seen in an opera-glass, or binocular field-glass, or better 
still in a two-inch telescope, this gorgeous double swarm 
of stars is a peculiarly beautiful and impressive object. 

The star Eta Persei, on the right side of the hero's 
helmet, is a double star, the larger star of the two com- 
ponents being of the third and a half magnitude, and 
of an orange colour, while the smaller companion star is 
of the eighth and a half magnitude and of a bluish colour. 
Gamma, in the right side of the head, Epsilon, a double 
star in the left knee, and Zeta, a quadruple star in the 
left foot, are of the third magnitude, while Mu, in the 
right knee, is of the fourth magnitude. 

The radiant point of the well-known yellow Perseid me- 
teors, sometimes called the "Tears of St. Lawrence, " fine 
displays of which are to be seen in varying numbers on the 
nights of August loth to 13th, is in this constellation. 

On the morning of February 22^ 1901, there blazed 
out quite suddenly, in the neighbourhood of Algol, 
about midway between it and Delta Persei, a Novay or 
new star — the celebrated Nova Persei. It was dis- 
covered by Rev. Dr. Anderson, an amateur astronomer 
of Edinburgh, and was the most brilliant Nova that has 
appeared since Kepler's in 1604. It shone with a 
bluish- white light, and within twenty-four hours had at- 
tained the brightness of a first-magnitude star. It began 
to fade in a few days, and in six weeks was invisible to 
the naked eye. Photographs obtained of it the follow- 
ing August showed a nebulous spiral encircling the star. 
Later the nebulosity disappeared, but the star is still 
visible as a telescopic body of the twelfth magnitude. 

It is beHeved by most observers that the new star — 
previously an obscure body, an extinguished sun, so to 
speak — had, in its rapid journey through space, plunged 
into a vast invisible nebula, or had encountered a wide- 



150 The Call of the Stars 

spread cloud of meteoric matter, the resultant friction 
of the incessant collisions heating its surface to incan- 
descence, and so causing the outbursts of light. As 
happens to all variable and temporary stars, it became 
yellow as it faded, and finally turned red. 

According to the estimate accepted by many. Nova 
Persei is approximately three hundred light years dis- 
tant, so that the outburst actually took place about the 
year 1600, instead of in 1901, which was merely the year 
that the light was first seen on the earth. It may be 
mentioned, however, that some investigations, notably 
those of Bergstrand and Very, differently place the 
star's distance at from sixty-five to about one himdred 
and thirty light years. 

Cassiopeia 

(The Lady in the Chair) 

On the opposite side of the pole from The Dipper, 
between Cepheus and Andromeda, lies the rich and 
interesting constellation, Cassiopeia, or the Lady in the 
Chair, one of the most attractive groups of stars in the 
northern sky. It is one of the six well-defined circum- 
polar constellations, that are always above the horizon 
in this latitude, and can be seen on any clear night 
throughout the year. Six of its chief naked-eye stars 
form a figure bearing a rude resemblance to a broken- 
backed chair — Cassiopeia's chair or throne — which 
stands on the Arctic Circle. Leaving out Kappa, a 
fourth-magnitude star on the front edge of the seat of 
the chair, the remaining five stars, when above the 
pole, roughly form a wide "W," with the open part 
turned towards the pole. Beginning at the right-hand 
or western end of the W, the stars are. Beta or Caph, 
Alpha or Schedir, Gamma, Delta or Ruchbah, and 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 151 

Epsilon. When the stars are below the pole, they form 
a somewhat distorted capital "M." An imaginary 
line drawn from Mizar in The Dipper, through 
the pole, prolonged an equal distance, points to 
Ruchbah. 

In mythological history, Cassiopeia, or more correctTy 
Cassiepea, was the beautiful queen of Cepheus, King of 
Ethiopia, and mother of Andromeda, the maiden who 
was rescued from the sea-monster by Perseus. On the 
celestial maps, she is represented as seated in regal state 
on her gem-decked throne, drawing her robe over her 
shoulder with her right hand, and raising a palm branch 
to her head with her left. Near-by, on her right, is 
King Cepheus, on her left Perseus, her son-in-law, and 
above her Andromeda, her daughter. The head and 
body of the queen are in one of the brightest spots of the 
Milky Way, and her foot rests upon the Arctic Circle. 
By reason of the circumpolar motion of the stars, the 
vain and imhappy Cassiopeia, for half the time, 
occupies the "unqueenly attitude," alluded to by Miss 
Proctor, "of standing on her royal head," a pimish- 
ment, among others, imposed upon her through petty 
spite of the Sea Nymphs, for boasting that she and her 
daughter were fairer than Juno or the sea-beauty 
Atergates. Aratus says: 

She head foremost like a tumbler sits. 

The earthly Cassiopeia, or Cassiepea, is supposed to 
have been black, and is so described by Milton in the 
following lines from // Penseroso: 

Hail, divinest Melancholy, 

O'erlaid with black, staid wisdom's hue; t^ 



152 The Call of the Stars 

Black, but such as in esteem 
Prince Memnon's sister might beseem, 
Or that starr'd Ethiop queen that strove 
To set her beauty's praise above 
The sea-nymphs. 

The constellation Cassiopeia contains altogether 
about sixty stars visible to the unaided eye, including 
two of the second magnitude, three of about the third, 
and several of the fourth magnitude. The star Alpha 
Cassiopeiae, or Schedir, in the breast, is a fine double 
star of about the second magnitude (max. 2.2, min. 
2.8). It was discovered to be a variable star by Birt in 
1 83 1. The larger star is of a reddish colour, while the 
smaller companion star, which is of the ninth magnitude, 
is of a bluish tint. It is forty-seven light years distant 
and has a proper or cross motion of two miles a second. 
It is a star of the solar type, and culminates at 9 p.m. 
on November i8th. Gamma, also a star of about the 
second magnitude (2.3), is a gaseous star and has a 
companion of the eleventh magnitude. It is notable as 
being the first star discovered to contain bright lines 
in its spectrum. 

Beta, or Caph, is a magnificent double star of about 
the second magnitude (2.4), in the back of the chair. 
The larger star is white in colour, and is so bright that 
the smaller companion star appears lost in its glare. 
It lies almost exactly on the equinoctial colure, or first 
meridian of the heavens, and is one of the so-called 
"Three Guides." It is approximately forty-four light 
years distant, and has a proper or cross motion of 
twenty-two miles a second. 

Delta, or Ruchbah, the first star in the back of the 
chair, is a star of about the third magnitude (2.8), and 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 153 

lies in line with Polaris and the true pole. The beauti- 
ful star Eta is an interesting telescopic binary, halfway 
between Alpha and Gamma, separable in a three- 
inch telescope, with a period of 328 years. The larger 
component is of the third-and-a-half magnitude, and 
of a white colour, while the smaller one is of the 
seventh-and-a-half magnitude, and of a rich, ruddy 
purple hue. It is the nearest star in the constellation, 
being only about sixteen light years distant. It has 
a proper or cross motion of eighteen miles a second, 
and is receding from the solar system at the rate of 
five and a half miles a second. 

Epsilon, at the top of the back of the chair, is of 
the third-and-a-half magnitude, and Kappa, the star 
on the front edge of the seat, is of rather less than 
the fourth magnitude. Mu, a fifth-magnitude star, 
in the left elbow, is notable on account of its hav- 
ing the large proper or cross motion of ninety-eight 
miles a second. It is twenty-nine light years distant, 
and is approaching the solar system at the rate of sixty 
miles a second. 

The constellation Cassiopeia is celebrated as being 
the one in which, near the little star Kappa, suddenly 
blazed out Tycho's very remarkable variable of 1572. 
This Tychonic Nova is the first nova or temporary star 
of which there is any really scientific record. It was 
observed by Tycho Brahe, the famous Danish astrono- 
mer, on November nth, but was discovered by Schuler 
at Wittenberg in Prussia, who saw it dimly on August 
6th. It was long known as Tycho's star, although 
sometimes spoken of as the "Pilgrim Star." When 
first seen it outshone the planet Jupiter, became as 
bright as Venus, and eventually was visible in full 
daylight. After a time, however, it began to fade, 



154 The Call of the Stars 

turning red as it did so, and in March, 1754, it dis- 
appeared entirely, and has never been seen since. 

Andromeda 

(The Chained Maiden) 

Just below or south-east of Cassiopeia, between Per- 
seus and Pegasus, lies the fine and romantic constella- 
tion Andromeda, the Chained Maiden. It is represented 
in classical atlases of the heavens as a beautiful maiden 
with her arms extended and chained by her wrists and 
ankles to the rocks. It is over thirty degrees in length, 
and can be easily traced by means of four bright stars, 
beginning with Alpheratz in the north-east comer of the 
square of Pegasus, which indicates the head of the 
Chained Maiden, and stretching in a slightly curved 
row north-eastward under Cassiopeia. The second star 
in this curved row, the one next to Alpheratz, is Delta, 
a third-magnitude star lying in the left breast, the third 
one is Beta, or Mirach, a second-magnitude star mark- 
ing the girdle, and the fourth star is Gamma, or Almaak, 
also of the second magnitude, indicating the left foot. 
Outstretched toward the north, and marked by several 
fourth-magnitude stars, are the right arm and hand. In 
the girdle, north-west of Mirach, are Mu and Nu, two 
fourth-magnitude stars, which serve as pointers to the 
famous Andromeda nebula, which is just west of Nu. 
South of Delta are three fourth-magnitude stars which 
indicate the extended left arm. 

The constellation, as it rises in the eastern sky during 
the early evenings in autumn, presents a most beautiful 
appearance. The head of the figure comes into view 
first, preceded by the square of Pegasus, the feet of 
the beautiful maiden coming up last. As it nears 
the western horizon, the head is seen to set first. 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 155 

the shackled ankles being displayed above the horizon 
after the rest of the figure has disappeared — a rather 
undignified exit for a princess. 

According to Greek fable, Andromeda was the beauti- 
ful daughter of Cepheus, King of Ethiopia. Her mother, 
Queen Cassiopeia, had imprudently boasted far and 
wide that the princess and herself were more beautiful 
than the fairest of the Nereids or nymphs of the 
Mediterranean, and to punish her pride, Neptune, at 
the request of the jealous nymphs, sent an inimdation 
and a terrible sea-monster to devastate the coasts of 
the kingdom. Cassiopeia and Cepheus, alarmed at the 
outlook, appealed for help to the oracle of Ammon, and 
deliverance was promised if the Princess Andromeda 
was given as a prey to the sea-monster. The graceless 
parents, yielding to the clamour of the people, chained 
the innocent Andromeda to a great rock on the seashore, 
near Joppa, and left her for the monster Cetus to 
devour. There she was found and saved by the cham- 
pion Perseus, just returning through the air from the 
destruction of Medusa, who slew the monster and later 
obtained the fair princess as his wife. 

Chained to a rock she stood; young Perseus stayed 
His rapid flight, to woo the beauteous maid. 

As the legend runs, the enraged Phineus, brother of 
Cepheus, to whom Andromeda had previously been 
promised, opposed the nuptials, and this gave rise to 
the famous fight of Phineus and Perseus at the wed- 
ding, in which the former and all his associates were 
slain. After her death Minerva placed her among the 
stars, with Perseus, Cepheus, and Cassiopeia. Charles 
Kingsley in his Andromeda makes Aphrodite thus 
beautifully describe her place : 



156 The Call of the Stars 

I set thee 
High for a star in the heavens, a sign and a hope for the 

seamen, 
Spreading thy long white arms all night in the heights of the 

ether, 
Hard by thy sire and the hero, thy spouse, while near thee 

thy mother 
Sits in her ivory chair, as she plaits ambrosial tresses; 
All night long thou wilt shine. 

From Parses, the first-bom of Perseus and Androm- 
eda, the proud Persian kings are said to have claimed 
their descent. 

The principal star of the constellation is Alpheratz, 
or Alpha Andromedae, the north-eastern star in the 
square of Pegasus, and sometimes known as Androm- 
eda's Head. It is a white, second-magnitude star, 
with a dark companion — revealed by the spectroscope 
— revolving round it, in a period estimated at about 
one hundred days. It is one of the "Three Guides" 
marking the equinoctial colure. A line drawn from 
Polaris through Caph, the outer-star of the "W" in 
Cassiopeia, continued for about thirty degrees, points 
directly to it. It rises in the north-east, and occupies 
nearly eight hours in reaching the meridian when it is 
seven-eighths of the way up from the horizon to the 
zenith. It rises when the sun sets on August 24th, and 
culminates at 9 p.m. on November loth. Astrologically 
it portends honour and riches. 

Gamma, or Almaak, a star of nearly the second 
magnitude (2.3), is interesting as being one of the most 
beautiful triple stars in the heavens, producing a fine 
contrast of colours. It is of a topaz-yellow colour, and 
has an emerald- green companion of the fifth magnitude 
which is in itself a double, having an eighth-magnitude 




Yerkes Gbserva.orj' 

Plate XV. The Great Nebula in Andromeda 

(Of the seventeen novas thus far known to have appeared in spiral nebulee, 
eleven have been found in this famous spiral. Then, too, the discovery of 
novas in spirals has led some astronomers to regard the latter as independent 
systems or " island universes." Moreover, recent spectroscopic observations 
lend support to the belief held by many, that the spiral nebulse are made up 
of great and infinitely distant clouds of stars, and that they have enormous 
space velocities.) 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 157 

companion of a bluish colour. Its duplicity was dis- 
covered by Johann Mayer in 1788, while Wilhelm 
Struve found its companion to be a close double in 1842. 
The principal star is easily separated in an ordinary 
telescope. The first and second companions form a 
binary with a period of about fifty-four years, but 
require, a very powerful glass to show them properly. 
Almaak forms with the stars Algenib and Algol in 
Perseus an almost right-angled triangle opening to- 
wards Cassiopeia. An imaginary line from Polaris to 
Epsilon in Cassiopeia, continued for about an equal 
distance, points to it. The Andromedid or Bielid 
meteors, of about November 23d, radiate from its 
vicinity. It is approaching the solar system at the 
rate of nearly seven miles a second. 

Beta, or Mirach, a second-magnitude star in the girdle, 
is of a yellowish colour, and about midway between it 
and Alpheratz is Delta, which marks the radiant point 
of a display of meteors on or about July 21st. 

The most interesting object in the constellation is the 
famous nebula 31 M, commonly known as the Great 
Andromeda Nebula (Plate XV.), the first detailed 
observations of which were made by Simon Marius in 
1 61 2. It is near the star Nu, a short distance north of 
Mirach, and is the grandest nebula in the entire sky, 
with the exception, perhaps, of that of Orion. On a 
clear night, when the moon is absent, it can be seen 
with the naked eye, as a tiny wisp of white light. It 
shows up in an opera- glass, or a binocular field-glass, 
as a small dim cloud, and in a two-inch telescope has 
an elongated appearance, with a brighter spot in the 
centre. It is, in truth, a magnificent spectacle, and 
looks not unlike the planet Saturn, surrounded by its 
rings. It is often mistaken by the uninitiated for a 



158 The Call of the Stars 

comet, and is the only true nebula that can be seen 
without optical aid. Newcomb relates that a skipper, 
fresh from a trip across the Atlantic, once visited the 
Harvard College Observatory, to tell Professor Bond 
that he had seen a small comet which remained in sight 
during his entire voyage. The object proved to be the 
Andromeda nebula. Its longer diameter is estimated 
to be more than half a million times the distance of the 
earth from the sim. It was formerly thought to be 
lens-shaped, but has turned out to be a huge spiral 
coiled in a plane only slightly inclined to the plane of 
sight. It is a white nebula, and according to Julius 
Scheiner gives a continuous spectrum without dark 
lines, which would imply that it is not a mass of in- 
candescent gas, but must be composed of something 
in a solid or liquid form. Recent observations have led 
some astronomers to believe that it consists of myriads 
of small solid particles — meteorites — travelling round 
their common centre of gravity, in intersecting orbits, 
the constantly occurring collisions between the solid 
meteorites generating heat enough to cause them to 
glow. It is by far the largest and most conspicuous 
of the spiral nebulae, and is approximately nineteen 
light years distant. 

In August, 1885, a new star, or Nova, of the sixth 
magnitude suddenly blazed out close to the bright 
nucleus of the nebula. It remained visible with tele- 
scopes for about a year, and then faded from view. 

Cepheus 

(The Ethiopian King) 

Lying across the meridian, between Cassiopeia and 
the Dragon^s head, is the rather faint, but highly in- 
teresting, constellation Cepheus, the King. The entire 



The Night-Sky of Autumn 159 

figure is about twenty degrees in length, its five bright- 
est stars forming a rude square, surmounted by an 
isosceles triangle. It is sometimes called the "Little 
Diamond, " in contradistinction to the "Big Diamond" 
of Pegasus, and may be readily found by carrying the 
eye from the "Pointers" through, or very close to, the 
North Star. The constellation contains only one star 
brighter than the third magnitude, namely, Alpha 
Cephei, formerly called Alderamin, which with Beta, 
or Alphirk, a bright third-magnitude star, lying about 
eight degrees nearer the pole, points almost directly to 
Polaris. 

On the celestial maps Cepheus is represented as 
sitting near his wife Cassiopeia, in regal state, with a 
crown of stars upon his head, carrying a sceptre, ex- 
tended toward Cassiopeia, in his left hand, and hold- 
ing his robes with the right. His head lies in the Milky 
Way, while his left foot is on Polaris. Aratus thus 
alludes to the constellation: 

Cepheus himself just behind Cynosura 

Stands like one spreading both his arms abroad. 

According to legend Cepheus was an Ethiopian king, 
son of Belus, husband of Cassiopeia, and father of 
Andromeda. He has also been identified by some 
with the godless and tyrannical Cheops, the builder of 
the Great Pyramid. He was one of the Argonauts, and 
was changed into a constellation after his death. 

The brightest star in the constellation is Alpha 
a second-and-a-half magnitude star (2.6), in the King's 
right shoulder. It will be the north polar-star about 
fifty-six hundred years hence. Beta, a white, third- 
magnitude star (3.3), in the girdle, is a beautiful tele- 
scopic double with an eighth-magnitude companion of a 



i6o The Call of the Stars 

bluish colour. The star Delta is an interesting variable 
(max. 3.7, min. 4.6), with a period of five days, eight 
hours, forty-seven minutes, and thirty-nine seconds. 
Its variability was discovered by Goodricke in 1784. 
It is a typical example of the Cepheid variables, which, 
unlike the Algol variables, have no period when the 
brightness is constant, the light-changes being con- 
tinuous. It is also an easy telescopic double, the larger 
component being of a deep yellow colour, while the 
smaller companion star, which is of the seventh and a 
half magnitude, is of a bluish tinge. 

The star Mu, about half-way between Alpha and 
Zeta, famous as Sir William Herschel's ''Garnet Star,'* 
is the reddest naked-eye star in the sky. It is an inter- 
esting variable, the variations of its light lying between 
the fourth and sixth magnitudes, but in irregular 
periods. It is a fine object in an opera-glass or binocular 
field-glass. During the latter part of June, a number of 
small meteors radiate from a point near Gamma, a 
fourth-magnitude star which marks the left foot of the 
King. 

Glide on in your beauty, ye youthful spheres, 

To weave the dance that measures the years; 

Glide on, in the glory and gladness sent 

To the furthest wall of the firmament — 

The boundless visible smile of Him 

To the veil of whose brow your lamps are dim. 

Bryant, The Song of the Stars. 



CHAPTER V 

THE NIGHT-SKY OF WINTER 

V 

Like silver lamps in a distant shrine, 
The stars are sparkling bright. 

W. C. Dix. 

With the passing of the autumn months the interest- 
ing summer constellations sink steadily lower in the 
western heavens, while in the east the brilliant winter 
groups, in order, rise to take their place. During the 
long nights of winter, the whole evening sky becomes 
filled with resplendent stars. Throughout the silent 
watches, lovely in their individuality, charming in 
their friendliness, dazzling in their splendour, enchant- 
ing in their beauty, they are, as Elgie says, magnificent, 
sublime ! 

The winter branch of the Galaxy or Milky Way, with 
its serpent-like streams of star-mist involving in its 
windings many of the constellations, stretches across 
the sky from south-east to north-west, a little north 
of the zenith. High up in the south-south-east, with 
its centre on the equator, is the magnificent Orion, 
bejewelled with seven brilliants, and universally re- 
garded as the most splendid of all the constellations: 

Whoso kens not him in cloudless night 
Gleaming aloft, shall cast his eyes in vain 
To find a brighter sign in all the heaven. 
IX i6i 



i62 The Call of the Stars 

Above Orion — the Warrior of the ancient Mayas of 
Yucatan — are the beautiful Heavenly Twins astride 
the ecliptic, and high overhead the Charioteer, princi- 
pally noted for its glorious lucida Capella with its 
attendant kids. Toward the west, on the meridian, 
is the threatening Bull backing across the heavens, 
with its interesting groups, the glittering Pleiades and 
the tristful Hyades, and the blinking, ruddy Aldebaran, 
the standard first -magnitude star. Under the mighty 
Orion are the faint groups, Lepus, the Hare, with its 
Crimson Star, and Columba, or Noah's Dove. Near-by, 
on the left, are the brilliant Dog Stars — the irradiant 
bluish-white Sirius, in the Greater Dog, the brightest 
star in the whole firmament, and the great, white 
Procyon, in the Lesser Dog. 

The Greater Bear is seen steadily pursuing his journey 
up the slope of the north-east sky, while exactly on the 
opposite side of the pole is the bright W-shaped group 
Cassiopeia. Bordering the Greater Bear on the south 
and east are the very faint little groups of the Lynx or 
Tiger, and the Lesser Lion, while over in the north- 
west, north of Pegasus, is the Lizard. The Lesser Bear 
is seen hanging head downward, with the pole star at 
the tip of its tail, and near the horizon, in the hollow 
of The Dipper, are the Hunting Dogs, with the bright 
Cor Caroli. On the meridian, between the Charioteer 
and the pole, is the barren-looking constellation of 
Camelopardalis, the Giraffe, while below the pole, 
reaching down almost to the northern horizon, is the 
great Dragon. 

In the east, the Lion, with its "Sickle" and beautiful 
white star Regulus, is emerging from the ground, while 
just west of it, along the ecliptic, is the wonderful 
Prsesepe, or Bee-hive Cluster, in the constellation of 



CHART 
rORABOUTDEC.22 

(The Winter Solstice J 



DEC. Ml P.I 
DEC.I5.I0P.M. 
JAN. I, 9 P.M. 
JAN. 15,8 P.M. 

FEB. I, 7RM. 

FEB.K,6RM. 




Sta rMagTvttudes 
OO « ♦ « 

^m 2'T' 3^ ^'T'toS-"!3ndunderl 



CHART IV-WINTEU MGHT SKY 



The Night-Sky of Winter 163 

the Crab, the faintest of all the constellations of the 
zodiac. In the south-east, the head of Hydra, the 
great Water-snake, has just risen, soon to be followed 
by the lonely rusty-looking Alphard, in the reptile's 
heart. Stretching from the Water-snake to Orion 
are a number of faint stars, which make up the little- 
known group of Monoceros, or the Unicom. 

Nearly overhead, just west of the meridian, is the 
champion Perseus, while west of him, and below Queen 
Cassiopeia, is the Princess Andromeda, and between 
the Queen and the Dragon is Cepheus, the King — a 
truly Royal Family, this ''harassed house of Cepheus.'* 
South of Andromeda, and about half-way between the 
zenith and the western horizon, are Aries, the Ram, and 
the Triangle, while south-westerly from these is the 
constellation Pisces, the Fishes, now the leader of the 
zodiac. South of the Fishes and the Ram is the broad 
constellation Cetus, the Whale, in the neck of which, 
but usually invisible to the naked eye, is its most inter- 
esting star, the celebrated variable Mira. Low down 
towards the southern horizon will be seen part of the 
long, winding, starry river Eridanus, the Mississippi 
of the sky. Below Eridanus and the Whale is the 
imimportant southern constellation Fornax, the 
Chemical Furnace. 

Already the poetic Eagle, the Water-bearer, and the 
Goat-fish have wholly withdrawn from the evening 
sky, and with the disappearance from view of the 
Winged Horse with its Great Square, which is 
slowly approaching the western horizon, and of the 
Northern Cross, which, upright in the north-west, 
is gradually sinking below the ground, the trans- 
formation of the stimmer into the winter sky will be 
complete. 



i64 The Call of the Stars 

Cetus 

(The Whale) 

Lying below Pisces and Aries, westward from Orion 
and almost entirely south of the equator, is Cetus, one 
of the largest constellations in the heavens. It is 
about fifty degrees in length, and from twenty-five to 
more than forty degrees in breadth. It is represented 
as a huge sea-monster, making his way eastward, and 
is often called the Whale, although it greatly resembles 
a walrus. The head is marked by a small pentagon of 
stars, namely Alpha, or Menkar, Gamma, Xi, Mu, and 
Lambda, directly below Aries, and is the only part of 
the creature above the equator. It is readily identified 
from the fact that the V of Hyades points to the stars 
Alpha and Gamma, which are only about five degrees 
apart. Besides, Alpha Ceti forms an equilateral tri- 
angle with the Pleiades and Alpha Arietis. The body 
of the monster is marked by a kite- shaped figure formed 
by the stars Beta, Eta, Theta, Zeta, and Tau, while 
the tail is indicated by Beta and Iota. 

The principal stars of the constellation, visible from 
October to February, form the outline of a lounge-chair, 
or of an easy chair with the back falling backwards. Then 
too, four of its western stars of the third magnitude form 
an inverted bowl, a little larger than that of the Archer's 
so-called milk dipper. Altogether Cetus contains two 
stars of the second magnitude, six of the third, seven of 
the fourth, and about twenty-four of the fifth. 

In Greek mythology, Cetus is the dusky sea-monster 
sent by Neptime to devour Andromeda. 

The south wind brings her foe 
The ocean beast. 

Aratus. 



The Night-Sky of Winter 165 

It was turned to stone on beholding the bleeding head 
of Medusa which Perseus held before it. To com- 
memorate the valour of the gallant hero, it was 
afterwards placed among the stars. 

Alpha Ceti,or Menkar,the leader of the constellation, 
but no longer its brightest star, is in the nose of the 
imaginary whale. It is a beautiful, orange-coloured 
star of the second-and-a-half magnitude, with a fifth- 
and-a-half magnitude star of a bluish tint in the same 
field. It is an interesting object, but not a true double. 

The lucida of Cetus is now Beta, sometimes called 
Diphda, or Deneb Kaitos. It is a yellowish star of the 
second magnitude and marks the south-western part 
of the constellation, and the tail of the whale. When 
it passes the meridian, it is about one- third of the way 
up from the horizon. 

The most wonderful object in Cetus is the star Omi- 
cron, situated in the middle of the Whalers neck, and 
commonly known as Mira, the "Wonderful." It is a 
notable variable with an average period of about 33 1| 
days. Its variability was discovered by David Fabricius, 
an unprofessional Dutch astronomer, on August 13, 1596, 
and it bears the distinction of being the first variable 
star of which there is any recorded observation. It is 
the type of the numerous class of stars known as long- 
period variables. At its maximum its spectrum shows 
the presence of glowing hydrogen. Like most variables, 
it is of a reddish colour, especially when fading. Its 
variations are more or less irregular both in period 
and brightness. It has a maximum varying from 
the second to the fifth magnitude, and a minimum vary- 
ing from the ninth to the tenth magnitude. For five 
months, on the average, the star is invisible to the 
naked eye. It then slowly reappears, increasing in 



i66 The Call of the Stars 

brightness, until in three months it reaches its maximum 
of brilHancy. It remains stationary for about two 
weeks, and then fades away, for about three months, 
sinking again so low as to be invisible except in the 
telescope. At its best it outshines the North Star. It 
reaches its greatest brilliancy for 1 914 in April; for 191 5 
in March; for 191 6 in February, etc. So far the varia- 
tions of Mira, and of long-period variables generally, 
remain unaccounted for. Whether the irregularities 
may not be, like the maxima and minima of siin- 
spots, phases of some general law, is one of the most 
interesting problems of modem astronomy. 

Omicron, or Mira Ceti, is about twenty-three light 
years distant, has a proper or cross motion of nearly 
five miles a second, and is receding from the solar 
system at the rate of fity-four miles a second. 

Tau Ceti, the south-east star in the inverted bowl, 
is of the third and a half magnitude. It is only nine 
and four-fifths light years distant, and has a proper or 
cross motion of seventeen miles a second. Zeta, the 
north-east star in the bowl, is an optical double, 
the principal star being of the third and a half magnitude 
and the companion star of the ninth. The star Gamma, 
six degrees west of Alpha, is a very fine double. The 
larger star is of the third and a half magnitude and of a 
yellowish colour, while the smaller star is of nearly the 
sixth magnitude, and of a bluish shade. 

Pisces 

(The Fishes) 

The constellation Pisces, the Fishes, is the twelfth 
sign and first constellation of the zodiac. It is a rather 
large but dull-looking constellation, occupying a tri- 
angular space, directly above Cetus, and south of 



The Night-Sky of Winter 167 

Andromeda and Pegasus. It has no conspicuous stars, 
but is important because of its position, as owing to the 
precession of the equinoxes, it now occupies the place 
of the first sign (Aries), and is the leader of the zodiac. 
In it lies the vernal equinox, or the point where the sun 
crosses the equator on its way north in the spring. 
The prime meridian of the heavens passes through 
this crossing-point of the ecliptic and the equator, and 
from it the right ascension of all the stars is reckoned. 
The constellation is usually represented on celestial 
maps by the figure of two fishes, quite widely separated, 
but held fast by long ribbons attached to their tails, 
and tied in a knot, which rests on Cetus's neck, and is 
marked by the star Al Rischa. The Northern Fish 
is represented by a group of fourth-magnitude stars 
between Aries and Andromeda, and the Western Fish 
by a "circlet" or lozenge-shaped figure traced by seven 
fourth- and fifth-magnitude stars, between Pegasus and 
Aquarius. 

The Fishes float, one ever uppermost. 

Both are united by a band. 
Their tails point to an angle 
Filled by a single goodly star. 

Aratus. 

A line drawn from Alpheratz to Gamma Pegasi is 
parallel to the body of the "Northern Fish," while 
another line from Gamma Pegasi to Markab is parallel 
to the "Western Fish." 

In all, Pisces contains one star of the third magnitude, 
ten of the fourth, and about eighteen of the fifth. 

In the early legends the Southern Fish — Piscis 
Australis — was the parent of the Northern and Western 



i68 The Call of the Stars 

Fishes, and fable associates all three with the story of 
Venus transforming herself and her son Cupid into 
fishes to escape the fury of the giant Typhon, when he 
assailed the gods on the banks of the Euphrates. To 
commemorate the event, Minerva placed two fishes 
among the constellations. 

In astrology, Pisces is the House of Jupiter and the 
Exaltation of Venus. It is the ruling sign for those 
bom between February 19th and March 20th. Like 
Scorpio, it is a feminine sign and unfortunate. As 
Olcott relates, a fish was always the symbol of the 
early Christian faith, and the figure may be seen in 
many of the stained-glass windows in the churches of 
to-day. 

The chief star in the constellation is Al Rischa, or 
Alpha Piscium, a third-magnitude star in the knot 
where the two ribbons binding the fishes together are 
tied, and is sometimes called the "Knot Star." It is 
a beautiful double, about seven degrees above and to 
the right of Mira, but the components are so near each 
other as to be somewhat difficult with a three-inch 
telescope. The components have a separation of only 
two and a half seconds of arc, and the distance appears 
to be decreasing. The principal star is of a pale green 
colour, and the companion star, which is of the fifth 
magnitude, is of a bluish colour. It culminates at 
9 P.M., December 7th. 

From Al Rischa, the stars diverge in winding lines 
northward to the figure of the Northern Fish, and west- 
ward to the Western Fish. Zeta Piscium is an easy 
and pretty double lying between Mu and Epsilon, in 
the ribbon leading from the Western Fish. The prin- 
cipal star is of the fifth-and-a-half magnitude and white 
in colour, while the companion star is of the sixth-and- 



The Night-Sky of Winter 169 

a-half magnitude, and of a greyish colour. Psi Piscium, 
in the Northern Fish, is also an easy double; both 
components being white in colour, and of the^ fifth- 
and-a-half magnitude. 

Lacerta 

(The Lizard) 

Lacerta, the Lizard, is a small, inconspicuous aster- 
ism, introduced by Hevelius at Dantzig, in the latter 
part of the seventeenth century. It is situated in the 
space between Cepheus, Cygnus, Pegasus, and Androm- 
eda, and contains no stars brighter than the fourth 
magnitude. It marks the radiant point of the Lacertid 
meteors, and culminates at 9 p.m., April 13th. It is 
notable as being the asterism in which a new star — 
Nova Lacertas — flared up in 19 10. The Nova was 
discovered by the Rev. T. E. Aspin, on December 30th, 
and at its greatest brightness had attained to about 
the fifth magnitude. 

Camelopardalis 

(The Giraffe) 

Lying between Auriga and Ursa Minor, is the faint 
straggling constellation Camelopardalis, the Giraffe. 
It was introduced by Hevelius in the seventeenth 
century, and is altogether dull and unimportant. It 
sprawls over a large area of sky, and contains no stars 
brighter than the fourth magnitude. It was supposed 
by Bartsch to represent the camel that carried Rebecca 
to Isaac. 

Taurus 

(The Bull) 

Underneath Auriga and Perseus, between Aries and 
Gemini, lies Taurus, the Bull, the second sign and third 



I70 The Call of the Stars 

constellation of the zodiac. It is visible in the evening 
sky from September until the following May. It is 
one of the most notable of all the constellations, and 
was originally the leader of the celestial hosts. The 
stellar Ram succeeded next, and now the Fishes lead 
the year, soon to be followed by Aquarius. Virgil 
thus wrote of it, as early as the century preceding the 
Christian era: 

The milk-white Bull with golden horns 
Leads on the new-born year. 

Among the finds in the excavations at Thebes is a 
sepulchre on the walls of which Taurus is portrayed as 
the first of the zodiacal signs. Over four thousand 
years ago it marked the vernal equinox. The great 
Tauric festival of the Druids, a survival of which is the 
festival May Day, commemorated the entrance of the 
sun into this constellation. 

On celestial maps the Bull represents the animal that 
Orion is supposed to be htmting through the heavens, 
although little besides the head, horns, and forelegs 
have reached the sky. It is depicted as charging down 
upon the mighty hunter, albeit it rises backward, and, 
as if continually on the defensive, backs all the way 
across the heavens (Frontispiece). The constellation 
contains within its border two conspicuous star-groups 
— the Hyades and the Pleiades — besides a number of 
notable stars. Altogether, it has one star of the first 
magnitude, one of the second, two of the third, eleven 
of about the fourth, and a great number of the fifth 
and sixth. 

In Greek fable it is the Bull which carried the fair 
Europa across the seas to Crete. Europa was the 
daughter of Agenor, King of Crete (twin brother of 



The Night-Sky of Winter 171 

Belus), and from her Europe took its name. Her sur- 
passing beauty charmed Jupiter, who assumed the 
form of a snow-white bull, and mingling vvith the herds 
of Agenor, approached her, as she and her maidens 
were sporting on the sea-shore and gathering flowers. 
Eiu-opa caressed the animal, and encouraged by his 
apparent tameness, had the temerity to mount his 
back. Jupiter, taking advantage of the situation, 
dashed into the sea and swam away with her in safety. 
In his Palace of Art, Tennyson, who like Virgil 
loved astronomy, thus refers to Europa: 

Sweet Europa's mantle blew unclasp'd, 

From off her shoulder backward borne : 

From one hand droop'd a crocus; one hand grasp'd 

The mild bull's golden horn. 

In the Ducal Palace at Venice, in the same room with 
the picture of Bacchus and Ariadne by Tintoret, once 
one of the noblest pictures in the world, is a celebrated 
painting by Patd Veronese, depicting the kidnapping 
of Europa. 

The "Hyades" group, a beautiful V-shaped cluster 
in the face of the imaginary Bull, is one of the best 
known star-groups in the heavens. It forms one of the 
most striking features of the winter night-skies, and is 
a fine sight with an opera-glass or a good field-glass. 
It is much more spread out than the Pleiades group, 
and is composed of brighter stars. All told, it contains 
one star of the first magnitude, five of the fourth, 
four of the fifth, and a few of the sixth. 

The Hyades were the seven daughters of Atlas and 
iEthra, and together with their half-sisters, the Pleiades, 
were called the Atlantides. According to one legend, 
they were entrusted by Jupiter with the care of the 



172 The Call of the Stars 

infant Bacchus, and were afterwards rewarded by him 
with a place in the sky. They were associated by the 
ancients with the ushering in of the rainy season, and 
were known by classic writers as the ''rain stars.'* 
Homer and Pliny alluded to them as causing storms 
and tempests both on land and sea. There is reason 
to suppose that their "watery" or "moist" reputation 
may be partly due to the legend that they were meta- 
morphosed into stars for immoderately bewailing the 
death of their brother Hyas, who had been killed in 
Libya by a wild boar. 

The lower or left-hand corner of the " V " is marked by 
Aldebaran (in the fiery right eye of the enraged bull), and 
the upper or right-hand one by Epsilon (in the left eye), 
while Gamma (in the nose) marks the angle. Between 
Epsilon and Gamma in the northern or right-hand branch 
of the "V" are three fourth-magnitude stars, known as 
the Deltas, while between Aldebaran and Gamma are a 
pair of fourth-magnitude stars called the Thetas. 

Aldebaran, or Alpha Tauri, the sturdy leader of the 
Hyades group, and the brightest star in the constella- 
tion, is a standard first-magnitude star, of a light-rose 
or rose-red colour, and is one of the most important 
heavenly bodies. To the Arabs, who gave the star its 
name Aldebaran — meaning the " Follower "—because 
it followed the Pleiades, it was also known as the 
"Eye of the Bull." Mrs. Sigoumey, in The Stars, 
thus alludes to it : 

. Go forth at night, 
And talk with Aldebaran, where he flames 
In the cold forehead of the wintry sky. 

It is a beautiful double, but is rather difficult for an 
instrument smaller than three-and-a-half-inch. The 



'The Night-Sky of Winter 173 

companion star is found to be of the tenth magnitude 
and of a bluish colour. 

Aldebaran is the fourteenth star in order of bright- 
ness in the entire heavens, and gives out about one 
hundred and sixty times as much Hght as the sun. Its 
spectrimi shows it to be rather far advanced in physical 
development, though it is generally classed as belonging 
to the solar type of stars. About the last of September 
it appears in the early evening sky, and is visible there- 
after at some hour of the night until near the end of 
May. It rises an hour after the misty little dipper 
of the Pleiades, and about two and a half hours after 
Capella, and bums bright 

Like a fire in the field of night. 

It requires seven hours to reach the meridian, when it is 
a little more than two-thirds of the way up from the 
horizon to the zenith. It rises when the sim sets at 
the beginning of December, and culminates at 9 p.m., 
January loth. It lies along the moon's path, and is 
frequently occulted by that satellite. By reason of 
its position it is much used by navigators in reckoning 
longitude at sea. It was one of the four Royal Stars 
of astrology, and was considered a fortunate star, 
portending riches and honour. It is forty-five light 
years distant, has a proper or cross motion of eight 
miles a second, and is receding from the solar system at 
the rate of thirty-four miles a second. 

About eleven degrees to the right or north-west of 
Aldebaran is a filmy, dipper-shaped little group of 
bluish stars — the sweet-voiced Pleiades — the vanguard 
of the winter starry host, and the most remarkable 
naked-eye group in the heavens. Appealing strongly 
to the imagination, and being visible from every inhab- 



174 The Call of the Stars 

ited quarter of the globe, it has figured largely in the 
myth, legend, and literatiire of every age and race. 
From the time of Homer and Hesiod down to the present, 
poets innumerable have had their fancy roused by the 
wonder and mystery of this tiny cluster of twinkling 
stars, and have endeavoured to emphasise in some form 
its mystical beauty and its charm. It was observed 
and written of in China over four thousand years ago, 
and the early sacred records of Egypt allude to a time 
when it marked the position of the vernal equinox, as 
the great year of the Pleiades. 

Among the many elegant metaphors inspired by the 
notable group is that of Bayard Taylor, who likened 
the cluster to "a swarm of golden bees," as also that 
of Tennyson, who beautifully describes it as * 'glittering 
like a swarm of fire-flies" in the evening's dusk. In 
Milton's description of the Creation in Paradise Lost, 
it is said of the sim that : 

the grey 
Dawn and the Pleiades before him danc'd 
Shedding sweet influence. 

The Pleiades (from the Greek xXlw, to sail) lie on 
the shoulder of the Bull, within four degrees of the 
ecliptic, and cover a space of a little more than three 
square degrees. Nine of the brightest stars bear the 
names of Atlas and his seven daughters, and their 
mother, the nymph Pleione. The six which are plainly 
visible to the average eye are Alcyone, Maia, Electra, 
Atlas, Merope, and Taygeta, while Celseno, Pleione, 
and Asterope hang on the verge of visibility. While 
many people can see seven, and moderately keen eyes 
coimt nine Pleiades, exceptionally keen-sighted star* 
gazers distingmsh anywhere from eleven to fourteen. 




Harvard College Observatory 

Plate XVI. The Little Dipper of the Pleiades 

(View at culmination) 



The Night-Sky of Winter 175 

With an opera-glass, thirty more stars may be counted, 
and with a two-inch telescope about one hundred, 
while the photographic plate reveals nearly twenty-five 
hundred. 

The principal stars, which are estimated to be almost 
as far apart as the distance from the earth to the near- 
est fixed star, form a rough outline of a short-handled 
dipper, called the "little dipper of the Pleiades." In 
Plate XVI., from a photograph taken by Pickering at 
Arequipa, Peru, the two larger stars to the left, are 
Atlas, a fourth-magnitude star at the end of the handle 
of the dipper, and Pleione, a star of about the fifth 
and a half magnitude, just above it. Situated at the 
junction of the handle with the bowl, is coy Alcyone, 
the peerless Pleiad, a star of the third magnitude, 
which some have been pleased to term the ''lotus- 
flower of heaven." 

An imaginary line running from between Atlas and 
Pleione, through Alcyone and onward, will pass through 
Electra, a fourth-magnitude star in the bottom of the 
dipper on the outside, and the second star in bright- 
ness in the cluster. South of this imaginary line is 
Merope, a fourth- and a third-magnitude star, in the 
bottom of the dipper toward the handle. North of 
the line is Taygeta, a fourth-and-a-half magnitude star 
on the farther side of the brim of the dipper. Between 
Taygeta and Alcyone, in the top of the brim, is the 
fourth-magnitude star Maia, while about half-way 
between Taygeta and Electra, on the farther side of 
the bowl, is Celasno, a star of about the fifth and a 
third magnitude. Asterope, the faintest star of the 
group, lies a short distance above and to the left of 
Taygeta, and is about of the seventh magnitude. 

Atlas, Taygeta, and Asterope are double stars. The 



176 The Call of the Stars 

two stars of Atlas are of the fourth and the fifth 
magnitude. Asterope's two stars are of about the 
seventh magnitude, and Taygeta's of the fourth and 
a half and the tenth magnitude. 

Alcyone, or Eta Tauri, the ' ' big sister "of the Pleiades, 
the brightest star in the cluster, is a triple star even 
in a two-inch telescope, its two smaller component 
stars being of the seventh magnitude, the three together 
forming a beautiful little triangle. In his Alcyone, 
Archbold Lampman describes it as 

the great and burning star, 
Immeasurably old, immeasurably far. 
Surging forth its silver flame 
Through eternity. 

It is supposed to be sixty times more brilliant than 
Sirius, and is famous as being the star which the Ger- 
man astronomer Madler, some sixty years ago, imagined 
to be the centre of revolution of the tmiverse — the 
place of the Almighty, the Mansion of the Eternal! 
Madler's fascinating theory, which was largely a revival 
of the old Hindu conception of the material imiverse, 
and was popular for a time, has, however, long since 
been rejected. Alcyone culminates at 9 p.m., December 
31st. The star, Maia, has an invisible companion, 
detectable by the spectroscope. 

The chief stars of the Pleiades are of the sirian type, 
and are drifting across the heavens in the same general 
direction. They are supposed to be about two himdred 
and fifty light years distant, and are receding from the 
solar system at the rate of twenty-five miles a second. 
The cluster is, by some, considered to be even larger 
than the Greater Bear. Modem photographs show the 
entire group to be completely enshrouded in a magnifi- 




Yerkes Observatory 



Plate XVII. The Nebulosities of the Pleiades 



(In these wonderful nebulosities several instances have been found of star 
and nebula radiating light of identical quality.) 



The Night-Sky of Winter 177 

cent tracery of nebulous matter (Plate XVII.), which 
stretches in curious wisps and streaks from star to star. 
From this wonderful mass of apparently intertwisted 
nebulas, or "cosmical fog," which for ages may have 
been condensing into stars, a great system is possibly 
developing and is already in the last stages of its forma- 
tion. Or again, it may be, as some astronomers have 
asserted, that what is seen is radiant matter ejected 
from these great and far-off orbs, just as rare gaseous 
matter is driven away from the sun to form its corona, 
but on an inconceivably more colossal scale. 

To the Greeks, the Pleiades were the daughters of 
Atlas and Pleione, and nymphs of Diana's train, whom 
the gods placed among the stars, near their half-sisters, 
the Hyades. Their names are Alcyone, Electra, Maia, 
Merope, Taygeta, Asterope, and Celasno. Bryant in 
The Constellations J thus alludes to them: 

• The group of sister stars, which mothers love 
To show their wondering babes, the gentle seven. 

As the legend runs, they were placed in the sky along 
with their father and mother on account of their filial 
sorrow, when their father, who with the other Titans 
made war upon Jupiter, and being conquered, was 
condemned to bear forever the dome of heaven on his 
head and hands. Another fable relates that one day, 
when strolling through the forest, the seven nymphs 
were pursued by the hunter Orion, who was attracted 
by their great beauty. As they fled, they prayed in 
their distress to the gods for rescue, when just as Orion 
was about to overtake them, Jupiter, in pity, changed 
them into doves, and transferred them to the heavens. 
The Pleiad sisters were all married to immortal gods 
save one, Merope, who was wedded with a mortal, 

xa 



I7B The Call of the Stars 

Sisyphus, King of Corinth, the light of whose star 
therefore grew dim. Some say her star was the "lost 
Pleiad," the classical story of which is of very ancient 
origin and well-nigh universal. Aratus, in the third 
century before the Christian era, thus wrote of the 
Pleiads: 

Their number seven, though the myths oft say, 
And poets feign, that one has passed away. 

Electra's star is sometimes mentioned as the lost one, 
because, upon the burning of Troy, she veiled her face, 
in order not to behold the ruin of that city, which was 
founded by her son Dardanus. 

Maia, the eldest of the Pleiades, and the most 
beautiful of the seven sisters, was the mother of Mer- 
cury by Jupiter. Taygeta was the mother of Lace- 
daemon, who was married to Sparta, the daughter of 
Eurotas, and who named his capital, the chief city of 
the Peloponnesus, after her. Celasno, who was beloved 
by Neptune, is reported to have been struck by light- 
ning, and her star is regarded by some as the "lost 
Pleiad." Asterope was the wife of (Enomaus, a son 
of Mars, and was the mother of the beautiful maiden 
Hippodamia, one of whose suitors was Euryalus. 
Pleione, was the mother of the seven sisters, and her 
star, which the spectroscope reveals as variable, is 
believed by Pickering to be the true "lost Pleiad." 
It is now about twice as bright as it was fifty years ago. 
Then, too, according to some, the famous star that 
appears to have been lost, may have been a Nova, 
which has faded from view. 

Biblical references to the group are foimd in Job 
xxxviii., 31, and Amos v., 8. The inquiry addressed 
by the Almighty to the patriarch Job, in a voice out 



The Night-Sky of Winter 179 

of the whirlwind, as rendered in the Revised Version 
reads : 

Canst thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades, 
Or loose the bands of Orion? 

Amos, the herdsman of Tekoa, in his Rhapsody of the 
Judgment to Come, wrote : 

Seek Him that maketh the Pleiades and Orion, 
. the Lord is his name. 



To the ancients, the heliacal rising of the Pleiades 
— the rising before daybreak — heralded the summer 
season, while their acronical rising — the rising at 
sunset — marked the beginning of winter. Then, too, 
this celebrated star-group served as a guide to the 
husbandman as to seedtime and harvest : 

When Atlas-born, the Pleiad stars arise 
Before the sun above the dawning skies, 
'Tis time to reap; and when they sink below 
The morn-illumined west, 'tis time to sow. 

Alluding to their showery nature. Pope, in his Spring, 
writes : 

For see, the gathering flocks to shelter tend. 
And from the Pleiads fruitful showers descend. 

Referring to their invisibility when the sun is passing 
through Taurus, Hesiod writes: 

There is a time when forty days they lie 
And forty nights, concealed from human eye. 



i8o The Call of the Stars 

The Pleiades rise in the north-east, an hour before 
Aldebaran, and occupy seven hours and thirty minutes 
in reaching the meridian, when they are rather more 
than three-quarters of the way up from the horizon. 
Between nine and ten o'clock on Hallowe'en they are 
about half-way up from the horizon to the zenith. 
During the winter months they are seen high up in the 
evening sky, slowly advancing toward the western 
horizon. In March they set soon after nine o'clock 
and disappear from the evening sky in April. 

At the midnight culmination on the 17th of Novem- 
ber — the Pleiad month — memorial festivals have been 
observed from remote antiquity by many peoples in 
many lands. Usually these festivals are connected 
with some legend of a deluge, or other great calamity 
that overwhelmed mankind, in the far distant past, 
when the Pleiades were prominent in the sky. The 
Feast of Lanterns — a great national festival of Japan — 
is supposed to have been originally commemorative of 
some such event. Then, too, it is thought by some, that 
All Hallow Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day, 
of the present calendar, are a survival of the three days 
memorial festival of the dead, almost universally 
observed in early times on the last day of October and 
the first two days in November, and in some way con- 
nected with the Pleiades. It has also been suggested 
that the "tors" — names given to British hilltops — 
were connected with the worship by the Druids of this 
little group of stars. As mentioned by Olcott, Arthur's 
Seat at Edinbtugh may be regarded as a notable 
example of an old site formerly thus used. 

Among the many Greek temples oriented to the 
''Seven Stars" was the celebrated Parthenon, on the 
Acropolis at Athens, one of the finest and most import- 



The Night-Sky of Winter i8i 

ant edifices ever erected. It was built of Pentelic 
marble, in the Doric style, and was completed in the 
year 438 B.C. In the Euphrates region, the Pleiades 
and the Hyades were termed the Great Twins of the 
ecliptic, as Castor and Pollux were the Twins of the 
zodiac. The Arunta, one of the aboriginal Australian 
tribes, believe that, together with the sun and moon, 
the Pleiades were the heavenly ancestors of their race. 
Hesiod called them the "Seven Virgins," Virgil knew 
them as the "Virgin Stars" and Milton termed them 
the "seven Atlantic Sisters." The Spaniards called 
them "the seven nanny goats," while popularly they 
are known as the "clucking hen" or the "hen and 
chickens." 

Besides Aldebaran and the two famous clusters, 
Taurus has several remarkable stars. Beta Tauri, or 
El Nath, a pure white star of the second magnitude, 
marks the tip of the northern horn of the Bull. It also 
indicates the place where the right foot of Auriga rests 
on the Bull's horn, being common to the two constella- 
tions. Zeta Tauri, a third- magnitude star, nine degrees 
below El Nath, marks the tip of the southern horn. 
The "golden horns" of the Bull, as Virgil describes 
them, are between fifteen and twenty degrees in length. 
About one degree north-west of Zeta, is the celebrated 
Crab Nebula (Plate XIV.), one of the most beautiful 
nebular objects in the heavens. It is an irregular, 
roundish mass of nebula, somewhat comet-like in 
appearance, and was the first nebula discovered by 
Messier. Unfortunately it is visible only in a very 
powerful instrument. The star Lambda is an Algol 
variable, changing from the third and a half magnitude 
to the fourth and a fifth magnitude in a period of three 
days, twenty-two hours, and fifty-two minutes. 



I82 The Call of the Stars 

Orion 

(The Giant Hunter) 

Situated in the most brilliant region in the heavens, 
south-east of Taurus, is the most interesting and beau- 
tiful constellation Orion, glorious alike to the eye and 
to the telescope. It is the richest and most impressive 
of all the constellations, and next to The Dipper is prob- 
ably the most widely known of the stellar groups. It 
lies across the celestial equator, partly within the 
Milky Way, wholly south of the ecliptic, and is visible 
from all parts of the world. In Brown's Primitive 
Constellations it is shown, however, that about four 
thousand years ago it was situated, not on, but entirely 
below, the equator. It is one of the largest of the 
constellations, and is also one of the very few in which 
the natural grouping of the stars suggests the figure 
that has, from the earliest times, been connected with 
it. It is the one most frequently alluded to in literature, 
is mentioned in the books of Job and Amos, and also 
in the writings of Homer, Hesiod, and Virgil. 

The constellation is easily recognised by an irregular 
quadrilateral, about eighteen degrees in its greatest 
length, formed by four brilliant stars, which mark the 
two shoulders and the two legs of the gigantic hunter, 
and by three bright stars which lie in an oblique line, 
in the middle of the quadrilateral, and form the giant's 
gemmed Belt. Manilius thus alludes to it: 

Near the Twins behold Orion rise. 
His arms extended measure half the skies; 
His stride no less. Onward with steady pace, 
He treads the boundless realms of starry space; 
On each broad shoulder a bright gem displayed, 
While three obliquely grace his mighty blade. 



The Night-Sky of Winter 183 

And Longfellow, in his Occultation of OrioUf makes the 
following reference: 

Begirt with many a blazing star, 
Stood the great giant Algebar, 
Orion, hunter of the beast ! 
His sword hung gleaming by his side. 
And on his arm, the lion's hide 
Scattered across the midnight air 
The golden radiance of its hair. 

As Orion appears above the north-eastern horizon he 
is in a reclining posture, from which he slowly rises 
until he reaches the meridian, when he is in the upright 
position. As he approaches the western horizon his 
position becomes more and more inclined. Tennyson, 
in Locksley Hall, thus wrote : 

Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to 

rest, 
Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the west. 

This magnificent constellation is the chief ornament 
of the frosty sky of winter, and is visible from late in 
October till May. Around New Year's Day it appears 
in the east at sunset, and is upright in the southern sky 
about nine o'clock in the evening in February. During 
the next two months it moves somewhat rapidly down 
the western sky, and disappears from evening view 
early in May. All told, Orion contains two stars of 
the first magnitude, four of the second, four of the 
third, three of the fourth, and over twenty of the fifth. 
Lying in a rich region of the heavens, it possesses a 
great number of stars of the sixth magnitude. It 
abounds in nebulous stars, and is wonderfully rich in 
telescopic objects. The spectra of its brighter stars. 



i84 The Call of the Stars 

with the exception of Betelgeux, indicate that they are 
in the earHer stages of stellar development. 

The figure of Orion as represented in classical atlases 
of the heavens, is that of a colossal giant trampling on 
a timid hare, and facing in heroic attitude the mighty 
Bull, that, with glaring eye, is rushing down upon him 
with his long, golden horns, (Frontispiece). Over 
his left arm hangs a red lion's hide, that serves as a 
shield, and which he is shaking at the bull. With his 
uplifted right hand he swings a massive club, with 
which he is about to strike a blow at the forehead of the 
infuriated animal. From his dazzling belt or girdle, 
to which Sir Walter Scott, in the Lay of the Last Minstrel y 
refers, as "Orion's studded belt," dangles his famous 
sword or himting knife. Bryant, in The Constellations ^ 
writes : 

I have seen 
The great Orion, with his jewelled belt. 
That large limbed warrior of the skies, go down 
Into the gloom. 

According to Grecian legend, Orion was the son of 
Neptune and Euryale, and became the greatest hunter 
in the world. By Homer he was described as the 
** tallest and most beautiful man," and was so tall that 
he could wade the sea. By some he was identified with 
the great Nimrod, "the mighty hunter before the 
Lord." He profanely boasted that he was able to 
conquer any animal the earth could produce. Where- 
upon a gigantic scorpion rose out of the ground, at the 
command of Juno, and bit his foot, causing his death. 
Subsequently, at the request of Diana, he was placed 
among the stars, directly opposite the Scorpion, so 



The Night-Sky of Winter 185 

that he might never again be molested by the offensive 
reptile. 

And so 'tis said that, when the Scorpion comes, 
Orion flies to utmost end of earth. 

Aratus. 

Another legend relates that the giant Hunter was 
the companion of the Huntress Diana, who, notwith- 
standing her heart was supposed to be Cupid-proof, 
fell in love with him and would have married him, had 
not her jealous twin-brother Apollo opposed their 
union. The indignant brother persuaded her one day 
to try her skill at archery, by shooting at a certain 
object in the sea. She aimed a shaft and hit the shin- 
ing mark, which proved to be the head of Orion, who, 
it is said, was amusing himself by wading at some 
distance from shore. Her arrow having killed him, 
Diana had him placed among the stars, where he shines 
to this day as the most gorgeous stellar figure in the 
entire sky. 

Still another story asserts that Orion was the lover 
of Merope, daughter of CEnopion, King of Chios, by 
the nymph Helice. Having been of great service to 
the king, in clearing his country of wild beasts, he sued 
for Merope' s hand in marriage. On being refused, he 
attempted to take her by force. CEnopion, enraged at 
this and other improper conduct, made him drunk, and, 
having put out his eyes, left him alone on the seashore. 
The blinded hero, following the sound of a Cyclop 's 
hammer, went to Lemnos, and made his way to Vulcan's 
forge, where he besought assistance. Vulcan, taking 
pity on him, instructed Cedalion to be his guide, and 
Orion, placing him on his shoulders, proceeded eastward 
to the top of a mountain, where, facing the rising sun, 



i86 The Call of the Stars 

the healing beams restored his sight. Longfellow 
thus alludes to this episode : 

but he 
Reeled as of yore beside the sea, 
When blinded by CEnopion 
He sought the blacksmith at his forge, 
And climbing up the narrow gorge, 
Fixed his blank eyes upon the sun. 

On account of its setting in the late autumn, Orion 
has always been regarded as a somewhat stormy con- 
stellation. Milton, in Paradise Lost, thus alludes to its 
boisterous character: 

When with fierce winds Orion armed 
Hath v.exed the Red Sea coast. 

The loss of the Roman fleet in the first Punic War was 
attributed by Polybius to its having sailed between the 
risings of Orion and Sirius. And Hesiod carefully 
warned all seafarers to beware the dangers of the sea, 
when the Pleiades flying from Orion are lost in 
the waves. 

The two chief stars of the constellation are Betelgeux 
and Rigel, both first-magnitude stars, although Rigel 
is generally the brighter star. Betelgeux, or Alpha 
Orionis, which is the first of these to appear above the 
horizon, rises in the north-eastern sky about an hour 
and a half after Aldebaran. It marks the right 
shoulder of Orion, and is one of the most remarkable, 
irregularly variable, stars in the heavens. It is a 
spectroscopic binary, and its variability was detected 
by Sir John Herschel in 1836. In 1852 and 1894 ^^^ 
again in 1908 it outshone Rigel. It is an orange-red 
star, the tone seeming to deepen as the star becomes 



The Night-Sky of Winter 187 

more faint, which would indicate that it may be enter- 
ing upon the earHer stages of extinction. It is one 
himdred and nine light years distant, has a proper or 
cross motion of about three miles a second, and is 
receding from the solar system at the rate of ten and 
a half miles a second. It is supposed to give out nearly 
five himdred times as much light as the sun. It occu- 
pies six hours and thirty-four minutes in reaching the 
meridian, when it is nearly two-thirds of the way up 
from the horizon. It culminates at 9 p.m., January 
29th. In astrology, Betelgeux denoted military or 
civic honours, and is often called the ** Martial Star." 

Rigel, or Beta Ononis, the brightest star in the con- 
stellation, lies some sixteen degrees below Betelgeux, 
and rises about fifteen minutes after it. It is a beau- 
tiful, white, first -magnitude star, with a tinge of blue 
and marks the giant's left foot, which is raised as if 
climbing a steep ascent. It is yotmg in the order of 
evolution, and ranks with Arcturus in point of bril- 
liancy. It is a most famous double star, separable with 
a two and a half-inch telescope. The companion star 
to youthful Rigel is of the eighth magnitude, and of a 
bright sapphire-blue colour. Rigel rises in the south- 
east, and occupies five hours and thirty- three minutes 
in reaching the meridian, when it is within four degrees 
of being half-way up from the horizon to the zenith. 
It passes the meridian one minute after Capella, and 
sets nearly two hoiu-s earlier than Betelgeux. It is one 
of the most remote of the brighter stars, being about 
four himdred and fifty light years distant. It is re- 
ceding from the solar system at the rate of fifteen miles 
a second. Its light-giving power is estimated as ten 
thousand times that of the sun. With Aldebaran and 
Betelgeux, it forms a large triangle, enclosing Bellatrix. 



188 The Call of the Stars 

Bellatrix, or Gamma Ononis, marks the left shoulder 
of the giant, and is a second-magnitude star, of a pale 
yellow colour. It is the first of the principal stars to 
appear above the eastern horizon, being followed 
closely by Betelgeux. It is sometimes called the 
"Amazon Star," or the ** Female Warrior." It is 
receding from the solar system at the rate of five 
miles a second. Astrologically considered, Bellatrix is 
connected with the fortime of women, those bom 
imder its influence being lucky and fluent. 

Saiph, or Kappa Orionis, is a third-magnitude star, 
situated in the right knee, eight and a half degrees 
east of Rigel. Along with Betelgeux, Rigel, and Bella- 
trix, it forms a large, irregular parallelogram that 
serves to outline the constellation. 

The three dazzling second-magnitude stars in the 
Belt, which is about three degrees in length, lie midway 
between Betelgeux and Rigel. They are situated at 
equal distance from each other, make a slanting line 
across the sky, and are supposed to be the stars referred 
to by Job as the "bands of Orion." They are named 
Delta or Mintaka, Epsilon or Alnilam, and Zeta or 
Alnitak. Tennyson in The Princess, Part Fifth, refers 
to them as. 

Those three stars of the airy Giant's zone, 
That glitter burnish'd by the frosty dark. 

The three stars in the stately Belt stand in a right line 
and point up to the red Aldebaran and the Pleiades 
and down to the bright Sirius. The uppermost star, 
Mintaka, lies exactly on the celestial equator, which 
passes about half way between Rigel and Betelgeux. 
The three stars are sometimes referred to, as the 
*'Rake," "Jacob's Rod," the "Three Kings," and the 



The Night-Sky of Winter 189 

golden " Yard." In mythology they represent the 
arrow, with which Diana killed Orion. 

Mintaka, or Delta, is a wide double, the principal 
star being white in colour and of the second magnitude, 
while the companion star is of the seventh magnitude 
and of a violet hue. Alnilam, or Epsilon, the middle 
star in the belt, is a white star of the second magnitude, 
with a distant blue companion. It is said to be a very 
hot star, its temperature having been estimated at 
about forty-five thousand degrees Fahrenheit. Alnitak, 
or Zeta, the lowest star in the belt, is a remarkable 
triple. The principal star is of the second magnitude, 
and shines with a yellowish-white light. The fifth- 
magnitude companion is of a purple colour, while the 
tenth-magnitude companion is grey. 

A short, curved row of stars, depending from the 
belt, and running obliquely towards Saiph, marks that 
famous, ghostly weapon, the so-called Sword of Orion. 
This row of stars is sometimes called the " Ell," because 
it is once and a quarter the length of the Yard, or belt. 
The lowermost star of the row is the third-magnitude 
triple star Iota. The middle star, Theta, is a sextuple 
star, and is of course notable, as four of its components, 
which can be seen in a two and a half -inch telescope, 
form an irregular quadrilateral known as the "Orion 
trapezium," and the star itself is enveloped in the Great 
Orion Nebula. Large instruments show in addition 
several fainter stars in the trapezium group. 

In Tennyson's Merlin and Vivien^ Merlin thus 
alludes to Theta: 

A single misty star, 
Which is the second in a line of stars 
That seem a sword beneath a belt of three, 



190 The Call of the Stars 

I never gazed upon it but I dreamt 

Of some vast charm concluded in that star 

To make fame nothing. 

Situated a short distance below Mintaka, at a right angle 
with the line of the belt, is Eta, a third-magnitude star, 
which marks the handle of the sword. Immediately- 
south of Alnitak, the lowermost star of the belt, is the 
fine fourth-magnitude star, Sigma Orionis. It is a 
most remarkable multiple star, a quintuple and a 
coloured variable, and altogether a charming object. 

The head of the mighty hunter is marked by a small 
triangle of faint stars, the brightest of which is Lambda, or 
Meissa, a triple star of a light yellow colour, and of about 
the third-and-a-half magnitude. The uplifted club, which 
stretches across the Milky Way almost to the feet of the 
Twins and the southern horn of the Bull, is marked by 
several fifth- and sixth-magnitude stars. Whilst, nm- 
ning upwards between Bellatrix and Aldebaran is a curved 
line of little stars, concave towards the giant's head, re- 
presenting the lion's hide that Orion carries on his left 
arm as a shield, and which, as it rises in the east, affords 
the first glimpse of the approaching constellation . 

On a clear night, when there is little or no moonlight, 
Theta, the middle star in the sword of Orion, is seen 
to be somewhat hazy to the imaided eye. This haziness 
is due to the presence of a great misty cloud of light 
known as the Great Nebula of Orion (Neb. 1179), the 
largest nebula known outside of the Milky Way, and 
the most marvellous object of its kind in the northern 
heavens. It has been sometimes called the "Fish- 
mouth nebula," because when viewed through a tele- 
scope, it is in shape something like a fish-mouth 
(Plate XVIII.). According to Barnard it "vaguely 




Mount Wilson Solar Observatory 

Plate XVIII. The Great Nebula in Orion 

(In viewing the plate the side to the reader's right should be held down- 
ward. Recent spectrographic measures of the radial velocities of the gases 
in different parts of this vast nebula have — as pointed out by Aitken, in The 
Adolfo Stahl Lectures in Astronomy — shown that they were moving with 
different velocities, "in some parts receding relatively, in other parts approach- 
ing," and have led astronomers to believe that the entire intensely hot and 
incandescent mass is by no means in a quiescent state.) 



The Night-Sky of Winter 191 

resembles a ghostly bat flitting through the night of 
space." It is one of the two or three nebulae that are 
bright enough to be visible to the naked eye. It can be 
plainly seen with an opera-glass, and a prism binocu- 
lar shows it well. In a two-inch telescope it is seen 
to greater advantage, and in still larger instruments is 
a most wonderful object. It was discovered by Cysat 
of Lucerne, in 161 8, but was first really described and 
sketched by Huyghens in 1656. It is a "green" 
nebula, and yields a bright line spectrum, characteristics 
of the lighter gases such as hydrogen and helium. It 
also displays the characteristic green ray, which marks 
the unknown element named "nebulium." 

It is a widely diffused and irregular nebula composed 
largely of glowing gases, but having, as shown by Wolf, 
outlying spiral branches. It is part of a vast nebulous 
system enveloping nearly the entire constellation, cover- 
ing an area thousands of times larger than Neptune's 
huge orbit. The densest part of the nebula — that 
immediately above the ** trapezium" — presents a some- 
what ciu-dled appearance, indicative of the formation 
of various centres of condensation, of which the final 
result will be a group of stars. There are, as Serviss 
says, in his eloquent way : "stars apparently com- 
pleted, shining like gems just dropped from the hand 
of the polisher, and around them are masses, eddies, 
currents, and swirls of nebulous matter yet to be 
condensed, compacted and constructed, into suns." 
In the language of Tennyson here are 

Regions of lucid matter taking form, 

Brushes of fire, hazy gleams, 

Clusters and beds of worlds, and bee-like swarms 

Of suns and starry streams. 



192 The Call of the Stars 

According to W. H. Pickering this magnificent 
nebula is not less than one thousand light years distant. 
Hence the observer sees it, not as it is now, but as it was 
more than a hundred and fifty years before the Norman 
Conquest. It is receding from the solar system at the 
rate of about eleven miles a second. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE NIGHT-SKY OF WINTER — {Continued) 

Auriga 

(The Charioteer) 

Directly east of Perseus, between Taurus and the 
Lynx, is Auriga, the Charioteer or the Waggoner. It is 
a very ancient and widely extended constellation, and 
is largely involved in the Milky Way. It is an irregular, 
five-sided figure, somewhat resembling a shield, and 
measures some forty degrees from east to west, and 
about thirty degrees from north to south. It is easily 
recognised, as its chief feature is a brilliant, first- 
magnitude star of pearly lustre, with no other star in 
its neighbourhood comparable to it in brightness. 
Then too, an imaginary line drawn from the Dragon's 
Head across the pole star leads to it. And again, a 
line connecting Dubhe, the upper front star of The 
Dipper, with its outlying stars, will, if prolonged, pass 
through the constellation. 

It has been represented on celestial maps by the 
figure of a man seated on the Milky Way, and resting 
one foot upon the right horn of the Bull, with a goat 
on his shoulder, her two kids in his left hand, and a 
long whip in his right. Capella, the Goat-star, shines 
in the heart of the imaginary goat, while near-by is a 
13 193 



194 The Call of the Stars 

tiny, sharp-pointed triangle, formed by three fourth- 
magnitude stars called the Kids. 

Auriga is fabled by the Greeks as representing Erech- 
thonius, son of Vulcan and Atthis, the daughter of 
Cranaus, King of Attica, who was deformed, and was 
reared by Minerva without the knowledge of the other 
gods. When he had grown up, he expelled Amphicty on, 
and became the fourth king of Athens, and is said to 
have invented the four-horse chariot, for which he was 
rewarded by Jupiter with a place in the sky. Mani- 
lius thus refers to the constellation : 

Close by the kneeling Bull behold 

The Charioteer, who gained by skill of old 

His name and heaven, as first his steeds he drove 

With flying wheels, seen and installed by Jove. 

The leading star of the constellation, Capella, or 
Alpha Aurigas, lies near the northern edge of the Milky 
Way, about half-way between Bellatrix and the pole 
star. It is situated in the heart of the goat, or rather 
near the left or western shoulder of the charioteer, and 
is one of the brightest stars in the northern skies, and is 
nearer the pole than any other first- or zero-magnitude 
star. It is a brilliant, creamy- white star, brighter than 
the first magnitude, and belongs to the solar type, be- 
ing at about the same stage of development as the sun. 

It is a hot and rarefied body of immense magnitude, 
about forty times rarer than the sun, and gives out 
about 120 times more light. According to J. E. Gore, 
it is estimated to be about fourteen million miles in 
diameter. 

It is a spectroscopic binary, one of those stars which 
the spectroscope shows to be attended by an invisible 
companion of enormous mass. Its period of revolution 



The Night-Sky of Winter 195 

is 104 days, the principal and companion stars being of 
neariy equal size. It is forty-nine and a half light years 
distant, has a proper or cross motion of nineteen-and-a- 
half miles a second, and is receding from the solar sys- 
tem at the rate of eighteen-and-a-half miles a second. 

Capella rises almost exactly in the north-east, and 
occupies ten hours and seventeen minutes in reaching 
the meridian, which it passes at some distance north 
of the zenith. During August evenings it rises about 
ten o* clock, and at sunset about the middle of October. 
It culminates at 9 p.m. on January 19th. It is above 
the horizon over twenty hours out of the twenty-four, 
rising again in three hours and twenty-six minutes 
after it sets. It presides over the stars of winter, and 
is visible every night in the year in some part of its 
course. July is the only month when it is not visible 
at some time before midnight. 

Capella was termed by the Arabs the *' Guardian 
of the Pleiades," and by the English poets it was called 
the "Shepherd's Star." By ancient mariners the 
rainy Goat-star and the Kids were accredited with 
exerting a direful influence. Alluding to their stormy 
nature, Aratus wrote : 

Capella's course admiring landsmen trace, 
But sailors hate her inconspicuous face. 

In like vein the celebrated Alexandrine poet, Callima- 
chus, in the third century B.C., wrote in an epigram of 
the Anthologia : 

Tempt not the winds, forewarned of dangers nigh. 
When the Kids glitter in the western sky. 

With astrologers Capella portended civic and military 
honours and wealth. 



196 The Call of the Stars 

Menkalina, or Beta Aurigse, the second star in the 
constellation, is a bluish- white star of the second magni- 
tude, on the right shoulder of the charioteer, about ten 
degrees east of Capella. It passes the meridian some 
six degrees from the zenith, about forty-three minutes 
after the latter star. Like Capella, it is a spectroscopic 
binary, its component stars being about seven-and-a- 
half million miles apart. E. C. Pickering, in 1869, 
calculated the period of revolution to be four days, 
and the relative velocity as one hundred and fifty 
miles a second. It has resolved itself on further 
observation by means of the spectroscope into a 
quaternary system. It was one of the first spectro- 
scopic binaries to be discovered, and is receding from 
the solar system at the rate of seventeen miles a second. 

El Nath — Gamma Aurigae or Beta Tauri — is a 
white, second-magnitude star, common to the con- 
stellations Auriga and Taurus, and marks the place 
where the right foot of the charioteer rests upon the 
tip of the right horn of the Bull. Aratus thus refers 
to it: 

The tip of the, left horn and the right foot 
Of the Charioteer, one star embraces. 

Iota, a third-magnitude star, about ten degrees north- 
west of El Nath, is in the left foot. Three fourth- 
magnitude stars, Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta, which form 
a small isosceles triangle a short distance below and to 
the west of Capella, represent the Kids. Theta, a 
third-magnitude star, about nine degrees south of 
Menkalina, marks the charioteer's right hand, resting 
upon his right knee and holding a long whip represented 
by several fifth- and sixth-magnitude stars. Delta, 
a fourth-magnitude star, about nine degrees north of 



The Night-Sky of Winter 197 

the shoulder stars, together with Xi, a fifth-magnitude 
star, indicates the charioteer's head. Along with 
Capella and Menkalina, it forms an approach to an 
equilateral triangle. 

The now historic Nova — Nova Aurigae — discovered 
on January 23, 1892, by Dr. T. D. Anderson of Edin- 
burgh, a famous observer of variable stars, appeared 
in proximity to the southern border of Auriga, about 
two degrees north-east of El Nath. Its image was 
afterwards found on photographic plates taken in 
December at Harvard College Observatory. At its 
greatest brightness, it was of about the fourth magni- 
tude. In three months it had dwindled to the twelfth 
magnitude, but brightened during August to the ninth 
magnitude, after which it gradually faded away. 

Lynx 

(The Lynx) 

Lying above Gemini, and between the head of Ursa 
Major and that of Auriga, is the rather extensive but 
inconspicuous constellation known as the Lynx or the 
Tiger. It is one of Hevelius's constellations, and dates 
only from the seventeenth century. To the naked eye 
it offers no attraction, having only one star brighter 
than the fourth magnitude. It has no legendary or 
mythological history, but is interesting on account of 
the number and beauty of its double and triple stars. 
The star 12 Lyncis, in the eye of the animal, is a fine 
triple, the principal star being of the fifth magnitude, 
and the companion stars of the sixth and seventh. 

Eridanus 

(The Sky-River) 

South of Taurus, between Orion and Cetus, is the 
great sky-river, Eridanus, the River Po. It is a large, 



19B The Call of the Stars 

though inconspicuous constellation, containing very 
few prominent stars visible in northern latitudes. It 
is represented as a winding river, about one hundred 
and thirty degrees in length, beginning near Rigel and 
meandering westward and southward toward Cetus 
and Fornax, finally becoming lost below the southern 
horizon. It terminates far down in the southern hemi- 
sphere, near the brilliant first-magnitude star Achemar, 
or Alpha Eridani, one of the brightest stars in the sky, 
but invisible from latitudes north of Savannah, its 
south declination being 57° 42'. 

Eridanus covers a large and very irregular space in 
the heavens, and can be traced without difficulty, as 
not only are few stars near it but many of its stars are 
arranged in pairs. For convenience of reference, it has 
been divided into a northern and a southern stream. 
That part of it which lies between Orion and Cetus, 
including the great bend about the Whale's paws, is 
known as the northern stream, while the remainder 
of it is termed the southern stream. This imaginary 
river was called by Virgil the "King of Rivers,'* 
and has been indifferently referred to as the "River 
Jordan," the "River Euphrates," and the "River 
Nile." 

According to fable it was an ancient river of Italy — 
now the Po — and was made a constellation because it 
was the river into which the intrepid Phaethon fell, 
when he was struck dead with a flash of lightning by 
Jupiter, after his disastrous attempt to drive for a day 
the chariot of the sun, and in which adventure he came 
near setting the world on fire. It is related that the 
great heat produced on the occasion of the stm's de- 
parting out of his usual course, when the fiery steeds 
left the beaten track, dried up the blood of the Ethio- 



The Night-Sky of Winter 199 

plans and turned their skins black. Aratus thus refers 
to the famous river : 

The scorched waters of Eridanus' tear-swollen flood 
Welling beneath the left foot of Orion. 

The constellation has no stars, visible in northern 
latitudes, larger than the yellowish, second-and-a-half 
magnitude star Gamma, or Zaurak. Gamma Eridani 
is situated in the northern stream, and is a good double, 
with a tenth-magnitude companion of a pale-grey 
colour. The star Cursa, or Beta Eridani, three degrees 
north-west of Rigel, is a topaz-yellow star of about the 
third magnitude with a distant telescopic companion 
star of the twelfth magnitude, and of a pale-blue colour. 

Lepus 
(The Hare) 

Directly below Orion and west of the Greater Dog, 
is the small and inconspicuous constellation Lepus, the 
Hare, Aratus thus describes its place : 

Below Orion's feet the Hare 
Is chased eternally; behind him 
Sirius ever speeds as in pursuit. 

The constellation contains little of interest for the 
ordinary observer, but may be readily distinguished 
by means of four stars, two of which are of the third 
magnitude and two of the fourth, arranged in the form 
of an irregular square or trapezium. Alpha and Beta, 
about three degrees apart, are of the third magnitude, 
and form the north-west end of the trapezium, while 
Gamma and Delta, about two and a half degrees apart, 
are of the fourth magnitude, and form the south-east end. 



200 The Call of the Stars 

Alpha Leporis, or Arneb, the upper right-hand star 
of the trapezium, is the brightest of the four, and is 
near the centre of the asterism. It is a double star, of 
a pale-yellow colour, with a ninth-magnitude star of a 
grey colour. It culminates at 9 p.m., January 24th. 
Beta Leporis, or Nihal, is a rather difficult triple star 
except in the larger instruments, the two smaller com- 
ponents being of the tenth and eleventh magnitudes. 
The star Gamma is a wide double, separable even by a 
good opera-glass. The principal star is yellow and of 
the fourth magnitude, while the companion star is of 
the sixth-and-a-half magnitude, and of a pale-green 
colour. About four degrees south of Rigel are four 
small stars of the fifth and sixth magnitudes, which 
indicate the ears of the Hare. Eta, a fourth-magnitude 
star, is in the tail, while Zeta, also a fourth-magnitude 
star, is situated in the back, about five degrees south 
of Saiph. 

The most remarkable object in the constellation is 
the crimson star R Leporis, which can be seen with an 
opera-glass. It is situated near the western border 
of the constellation, about three degrees west of Mu, 
a fourth-magnitude star in the eye of the imaginary 
hare. It was discovered by Hind in 1845, and is 
frequently referred to as "Hind's Crimson Star." It 
is a notable variable, with a period of 436 days, and 
ranges in brilliancy from the sixth to the ninth and a half 
magnitude. When at its brightest it is of a coppery-red 
colour, but when faintest it is of a deep blood-red. 

Columha 

(Noah's Dove) 

Under Lepus, and south-west of the Greater Dog, is 
the small constellation of Columba, the Dove. The 



The Night-Sky of Winter 201 

figure heads to the south-east, and is supposed to re- 
present the dove that Noah sent out from the ark. 
Besides its chief star, Alpha Columbae, or Phaet, which 
is of about the second and a half magnitude, it contains 
one star, Beta, of the third magnitude, and two, Epsilon 
and Gamma, of the fourth, as also a number of smaller 
stars. Phaet is easily identified, as a line connecting 
Procyon and Sirius will, if produced twenty-three de- 
grees, point to it. According to Lockyer, the Egyptian 
temples at Edfu and Philae, along with several others, 
were oriented to Phaet. 

Phaet culminates at 9 p.m., January 26th. 

Canis Major 

(The Greater Dog) 

Canis Major, the Greater Dog, lies south-east of 
Orion, on the western border of the Milky Way, and 
is remarkable because it contains Sirius, the blazing 
Dog Star, the brightest star in all the sky. It is not 
a large constellation, but has, in addition to its magnifi- 
cent leader, three stars of the second magnitude, three 
of the third, and a number of the fourth, fifth, and sixth 
magnitudes. 

According to Greek fable, Canis Major was one of 
the hounds of Orion, which accompanied the great 
himter when he was translated to the sky. Another 
legend asserts that it represents the dog given by 
Aurora to Cephalus, which surpassed all rivals in 
fleetness. To the Egyptians it was the representative 
of their deity Anubis, which had the figure of a man 
with the head of a dog. They regarded it, when ap- 
pearing in the east just before sunrise, as the herald of 
the annual inundation of the Nile. Anubis was the 
guard and companion of Isis, wife of Osiris, the god of 



202 The Call of the Stars 

the Nile, and in Egyptian temples was represented as 
the guard of other gods. 

On celestial maps the Dog is generally figured as 
standing on his hind feet, facing his master Orion, with, 
as Yoimg intimates, an eye out for the Hare, which 
cowers beneath the hunter's feet. 

The chief star of the constellation is the dazzling 
Sirius, a star of surpassing brilliance, Sirius the Superb. 

Hail, Mighty Sirius, monarch of the Suns ! 

Lydia H. Sigourney, The Stars. 

This famous star is situated about sixteen-and-a-half 
degrees south of the celestial equator, nearly in line 
with the three stars in the belt of Orion. It enters the 
evening sky just as the bright summer star Vega is 
leaving it, and is visible from every habitable quarter 
of the globe. It blazes in the wide-stretched jaws of 
the imaginary dog, and was called by the ancients the 
Dog Star, on account of its association with the Dies 
canicularis, or Dog Day — the *'dog days" being reck- 
oned from its heliacal rising. Popularly, the **dog 
days" are the sultry, close part of the summer, a period 
in July and August, when canine madness is supposed 
to be prevalent. 

Sirius is alluded to as the Dog Star in Homer's 
Iliad, Book XXII. (Lord Derby's tr.), thus: 

Th' autumnal star, whose brilliant ray 
Shines eminent amid the depth of night, 
Whom men the dog-star of Orion call. 

Serviss mentions that from its proper or cross motion 
in the heavens, it has been calculated that, six himdred 
centuries ago, Sirius was on the eastern border of the 



The Night-Sky of Winter 203 

Milky Way. It moves, during a centiiry, through a 
space on the celestial sphere equivalent to about one- 
fourteenth the apparent diameter of the moon. Ac- 
cording to a fable related by the Persian astronomer, 
Al Sufi, the stars, Sirius and Procyon, were the sisters 
of Canopus. Canopus married the star Rigel, but, 
having murdered her, he fled towards the south pole, 
fearing the anger of his sisters. Sirius, it is related, 
followed him across the Milky Way. 

In her Poems of Progress^ Ella Wheeler Wilcox 
thus writes : 

Since Sirius crossed the Milky Way 

Full sixty thousand years have gone, 
Yet hour by hour, and day by day, 

This tireless star speeds on and on. 

On planets old ere form or place 

Was lent to earth, may dwell — who knows — 
A God-like and perfected race 

That hails great Sirius as he goes. 

Since Sirius crossed the Milky Way 

Full sixty thousand years have gone, 
No mortal man may bid him stay. 

No mortal man may speed him on. 

No mortal mind may comprehend 

What is beyond, what was before; 
To God be glory without end. 

Let man be humble and adore. 

The radiant Sirius is a brilliantly white star with a 
tinge of blue or green, and its official magnitude, — i .6, 
rates it as the most splendid of all the stars. Its 



204 The Call of the Stars 

spectrum shows that it is in a relatively early stage of 
solar evolution, and is enveloped in a dense atmosphere 
of hydrogen gas. It is about thirty times as luminous 
as the sun, and has about ten times the brilliancy of 
either Aldebaran or Altair, and about one-ninth that 
of the planet Venus when at its greatest. It is the 
nearest of the stars visible to the unaided eye in northern 
latitudes, and is the brightest of the so-called sirian 
stars. To its relative nearness, it owes in part its 
apparent supremacy, as it is by no means the largest 
sun in the universe. Rigel, Canopus, and Betelgeux 
far exceed it in actual luminosity. The late Finnish 
poet, Zakris Topelius, fancifully accounted for the 
exceptional magnitude of Sirius by stating that the 
lovers, Zulamith the Bold and Salami the Fair, after 
a thousand years of separation and toil, while building 
their bridge of starry light, the Milky Way, upon 
meeting at its completion, 

Straight rushed into each other's arms, 
And melted into one. 
So they became the brightest star 
In heaven's high arch that dwelt, 
Great Sirius, the mighty Sun, 
Beneath Orion's belt. 

The colour of Sirius, like that of some of the other 
brighter stars, varies with its altitude. Its momentary 
red flashes, seen when near the horizon, and doubtless 
due to the irregular dispersion of its light through 
tremulous atmosphere, seem to die out near the meri- 
dian. Miss Proctor, looking at it one evening in a 
six-inch telescope, as it emerged from below the south- 
eastern horizon, described it as flashing with all the 
colours of the rainbow: 



The Night-Sky of Winter 205 

First the flaming red 
Sprang vivid forth; the tawny orange next; 
And next delicious yellow ; by whose side 
Fell the kind beams of all-refreshing green. 
Then the pure blue, that swells autumnal skies, 
Ethereal played. 

Tennyson, in The Princess j Part Fifth, thus alludes to 
it: 

The fiery Sirius alters hue 

And bickers into red and emerald. 

On account of its super-brilliance, it has, more than 
once, been mistaken for a planet. 

Sirius is one of the very noteworthy binaries. Its 

duplicity was detected by Alvan Graham Clark, the 

famous telescope-maker of Cambridgeport, Mass., on 

January 31, 1862. The companion star is a dull yellow 

star about ten seconds of arc distant from its principal, 

and nearly half as massive. It is of only the ninth and 

a half magnitude, and is invisible except in the largest 

telescopes. It is believed to be approaching the stage 

in which its light will practically die out. The two 

stars revolve around their common centre of gravity, 

in a period of about fifty-three years, in an orbit some 

twenty times wider than that of the earth around the 

sun. In his Romance of Micr omegas (1752), Voltaire 

: makes mention of an imaginary planet circling around 

; Sirius, that was supposed to be over twenty-one million 

I times larger in circumference than the earth, the 

i inhabitants of which were proportionately tall (twenty 

j miles) and proportionately long-lived. 

Sirius has a diameter estimated at about fifteen times 
! that of the sun, and pours forth more than twenty times 



2o6 The Call of the Stars 

as much light. With Betelgeux and Procyon it forms 
a large equilateral triangle, notable for containing 
within its borders no star above the third magnitude. 
Among the several Egyptian temples oriented to it 
was that of Isis at Denderah. In classic days, it was 
regarded as a star of ill omen, whose "burning breath," 
according to Homer, 

Taints the red air with fevers, plagues, and death. 

Sirius rises in the south-east, and takes five hours 
and three minutes to reach the meridian, when it is 
about one-third of the way up from the horizon. Hence 
it is above the horizon only a little over ten hours out 
of the twenty-four. It is the most southern of the 
brilliant winter stars, and appears in the evening sky 
about the middle of November, being the last one to 
return. On Thanksgiving evening, it rises about nine 
o'clock, and on Christmas evening shortly after seven. 
It comes to the meridian at 9 p.m. February nth. It 
shines brightly in the south-west in the early evening 
in April, and retires from view about the middle of 
May. It is eight and three-fourths light years distant, 
has a proper or cross motion of ten and a third 
miles a second, and is approaching the solar system at 
the rate of five miles a second. 

About six degrees to the right of Sirius, is Beta, or 
Mirzam, the second star of the constellation. It is a 
star of about the second magnitude, and is at the ex- 
tremity of the dog's uplifted left paw. It passes the 
meridian twenty-two minutes before Sirius, and at 
about the same height. Some fifteen degrees south- 
east of Sirius are Delta, or Wezen, and Epsilon, or Adara, 
two second-magnitude stars, in the right flank of the 
dog. Epsilon is an orange-coloured star, with a ninth- 



The Night-Sky of Winter 207 

magnitude companion of a violet hue. It passes the 
meridian about fourteen minutes after Sirius, about 
one-fourth of the way up from the horizon. 

Eta, or Aludra, in the tail, and Zeta, or Furud, in the 
left hind paw, are both of the third magnitude. The 
latter forms with Mirzam, Sirius, and Adara a trape- 
zium, which is almost a rectangle. Nearly in line 
with Sirius and Mirzam is Gamma, or Muliphen. It is 
a fourth-magnitude star in the neck of the dog, and is 
a variable. About four degrees south of Sirius, is the 
star-cluster 1454. Its stars appear to be arranged in 
curves, and in the centre is a ruddy star. 

Canis Minor 

(The Lesser Dog) 

Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog, lies south of Gemini, 
and north-east of Canis Major, on the other side of the 
Milky Way from Orion. It is a small but ancient 
constellation, about fifteen degrees in length, and 
contains only one star of the first magnitude, one of 
the third, and five of about the fifth. It owes its pro- 
minence to its lucida, Procyon, one of the most inter- 
esting stars in the sky. 

According to Greek fable, the Lesser Dog was one 
of the other faithful dogs of Orion. Another legend 
asserts that it was one of Actaeon's fifty hounds, that 
devoured their master, after Diana, whom he had seen 
bathing with her nymphs in the vale of Gargaphia, had 
transformed him into a stag, to prevent, as she said, 
his betraying her. It has also been regarded as Helen's 
favourite, that was lost in the Euripus. The Latins 
called it "Antecanis," the star before the Dog. 

Alpha Canis Minoris, also known as Procyon, be- 
cause it heralds the approach of the Greater Dog, is a 



2o8 The Call of the Stars 

beautiful yellowish-white star of the first magnitude. 
Aratus thus alludes to it : 

The dog's precursor, too, shines bright beneath the Twins. 

Procyon is a rapidly-scintillating star, and is the only 
one out of the beautiful group of winter stars that is 
lightly tinged with yellow. It is situated in the hind 
quarter of the Lesser Dog, and is one of the nearest 
of the brighter stars. It is almost equidistant from 
Betelgeux and Sirius, and forms with them an equi- 
lateral triangle, across which flows the Milky Way. It 
has a faint, twelfth-magnitude companion, of a yellow- 
ish hue, discovered by Schaeberle at the Lick Observa- 
tory in 1896, which revolves around it in a period of 
about forty years. Some observations, however, lend 
support to the belief that the companion may be a 
small nebula rather than a star. 

In order of stellar evolution, Procyon is about mid- 
way between Sirius and the sun. It is estimated that 
it gives out about eight times as much light as the latter 
orb. Horace in his ode to Maecenas, wrote of it : 

Jam Procyon furit. 

which Mr. Gladstone rendered: 

The heavens are hot with Procyon's rays. 

In astrology Procyon portended good fortune and 
wealth. 

Procyon rises a little north of east, and occupies six 
hotu-s and twenty-one minutes in reaching the meridian, 
when it is about three-fifths of the way up from the 
horizon to the zenith. It appears above the horizon 
some twenty minutes before Sirius, and sets between 



The Night-Sky of Winter 209 

two and three hours after it. It rises when the sun 
sets about January 23d, and comes to the meridian at 
9 P.M. February 24th. It is ten light years distant, 
has a proper or cross motion of eleven and a third miles 
a second, and is approaching the solar system at the 
rate of two and a half miles a second. About five 
degrees from Procyon, in an oblique line towards 
Gemini, is the white third-magnitude star. Beta. It 
is sometimes called Gomeisa, and is situated in the neck 
of the Lesser Dog. 

Monoceros 

(The Unicorn) 

Lying between Orion and the two Dogs is the large 
but inconspicuous constellation Monoceros, the Uni- 
com. It was familiar to the Persians, and was known 
in early times as the Horse. The constellation extends 
about forty degrees from east to west, and is singularly 
barren of bright stars, having but four as bright as 
the fourth magnitude. It contains, however, a num- 
ber of fine, small star-clusters, some of which are good 
objects, even for an opera-glass or prism binocular. 

Gemini 

(The Twins) 

The third sign and fourth constellation of the zodiac, 
Gemini, the Twins, is a highly interesting and important 
constellation lying north-east of Taurus and west of 
Cancer. It is readily recognised by its two chief stars, 
Castor and Pollux, sometimes called by the old English 
people, "the Giant's Eyes" — the eyes of the giant 
Daze. Two remarkable parallel rows of stars, one 
leading from the head to the foot of Castor, the other 
leading from the head to the foot of Pollux, also help 
14 



210 The Call of the Stars 

to identify it. On most celestial maps the charming 
Twins are represented as two sturdy youths, standing 
side by side in the Milky Way, watching the conflict be- 
tween Orion and the Bull (Frontispiece), each wearing, 
as Mrs. Martin aptly puts it, a bright star, as a sort 
of monocle, in the outer eye. Manilius thus refers to 
them : 

Tender Gemini in strict embrace 

Stand clos'd and smiling in each other's face. 

Instead of twin brothers the Orientals, however, occa- 
sionally adopted two kids, and the Arabs two peacocks. 
The Latin title Gemini by which this noted star-group 
is now known dates only from early classic days. 

The constellation is the highest in the zodiac, and 
can be seen from October to early June. The sun passes 
through it from June i8th to July i8th, when it is of 
course invisible. About six months later it is on the 
meridian at midnight. Altogether, Gemini contains 
one star of near the first magnitude, two of about the 
second, three of about the third, and a number of the 
fourth, fifth, and sixth magnitudes. 

In astrology Gemini is of the House of Mercury. It 
is a masculine sign and fortunate. Its natives — those 
born from May 20th to June 21st — are said to be ruled 
by it. 

Alpha Geminorum, or Castor, the most northerly of 
the two leading stars of the constellation, is a well- 
known double star, in the head of the twin named 
Castor, and is noted as being one of the first stars de- 
monstrated to be of a binary character. Its duplicity 
was discovered by G. D. Cassini in 1678. It is the 
brightest and most beautiful double in the northern 
skies, and is the best object of its class for a small 



The Night-Sky of Winter 211 

telescope. The principal star is white with a slightly 
greenish tinge, and of about the second magnitude, 
while the companion star is approximately of the third 
magnitude, and also of a greenish- white hue. The 
two components are only four seconds of arc apart, 
and cannot be separated without the aid of a two-inch 
telescope. The period of revolution is estimated at 
three hundred and forty-seven years. Then, too, both 
components are themselves spectroscopic binaries, 
the fainter component having a tiny satellite revolving 
around it in a period of about three days, and the 
brighter component, one with a period of about nine 
days. Both the main components of Castor belong 
to the sirian type of stars, that large class which in- 
cludes about half of all the stars in the sky. It was 
from observation of this pair of stars that Sir Wm. 
Herschel arrived at the knowledge of the physical 
connection of the double stars. Castor is about one 
hundred and sixteen light years distant, has a proper 
or cross motion of twenty-one miles a second, and is 
receding from the solar system at the rate of nearly 
four miles a second. 

About four and a half degrees to the left of Castor 
is Beta Geminorum or Pollux, a slightly orange-tinted 
star, of rather less than the first magnitude. It is in 
the head of the twin named Pollux, and is now a brighter 
star than Castor, although about three centuries ago 
the latter was the lucida of the constellation. An 
imaginary line drawn through Rigel and Betelgeux 
points directly to it. Like Capella and the sun, Pollux 
belongs to the solar type of stars. It is a multiple 
star of at least six components, most of them too faint 
for easy observation. It is fifty-one light years distant, 
has a proper or cross motion of twenty-eight and a half 



212 The Call of the Stars 

miles a second, and is receding from the solar system 
at the rate of two miles a second. It is one of the stars 
from which the moon's distance is calculated. In 
astrology Pollux was a fortunate star, portending 
eminence and renown. 

The twin stars rise in the north-east, Castor occupy- 
ing eight hours and fifteen minutes, and Pollux seven 
hours and fifty-three minutes, in reaching the meridian, 
when the former is nine-tenths and the latter seven- 
eighths of the way up from the horizon to the zenith. 
They become a familiar feature in the early evening sky 
in November, and about January ist rise at the time 
the sim sets. They culminate at 9 p.m. February 24th, 
Castor passing .the meridian about eleven minutes 
before Pollux. They are about the last of the radiant 
winter stars to leave the western sky, and are partic- 
ularly attractive during the evenings of May and early 
June. Owen Meredith, in The Wanderer, thus refers 
to them: 

The lone Ledaean lights from yon enchanted air 

Look down upon my spirit, like a spirit's eyes that love me. 

After the two leading stars, the brightest star in the 
constellation is Gamma, or Alhena, a star of about the 
second and a half magnitude, in the left foot of Pollux. 
Delta, or Wasat, is a yellowish third-magnitude double 
star, in Pollux's right arm, and Zeta, or Mekbuda, is a 
third-magnitude double star, and a variable, in his 
right thigh. Zeta is a bright yellow star, with a bluish 
companion of the seventh magnitude. The principal 
star varies its light, from about the third to about the 
fourth magnitude, in a period of ten days, three hours, 
and forty-three minutes. Theta, a third-magnitude 
star, is in the outstretched left hand of Castor, and 



The Night-Sky of Winter 2 13 

Epsilon, or Mebusta, a white, third-magnitude double 
star, is in his left thigh. The two third-magnitude 
stars Eta, or Propus, and Mu, or Tejat, mark Castor's 
left foot and ankle. Eta belongs to the long-period 
variables, and is noted as marking the locality where 
Sir William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, 
on the 13th of March, 1 78 1 . The period of its variation 
occupies about two hundred and thirty-one and a half 
days, and its brightness varies between the third and 
fourth magnitudes. 

A little west of Mu is a fifth-magnitude star, which 
marks the location of the summer solstice — the point 
where the sun appears to be, when it is farthest north 
of the equator, on June 21st. 

About two degrees north-west of Eta is a splendid 
star-cluster, 35 M, which can be seen with a good opera- 
glass, and is just visible to the naked eye on a clear 
moonless night. It is beautiful even in a field-glass 
or prism binocular, and is a fascinating sight in a small 
telescope. On March 12, 1912, a new star, called 
Enebo's Nova, blazed out in Gemini, about two degrees 
south of Theta. It was discovered by Sigurd Enebo, 
an observer of variables, at Dombas, Norway. It was 
of a creamy-white colour, and of about the fourth 
magnitude, and was easily visible to the naked eye. 
The discovery was confirmed by two photographs 
taken at Harvard Observatory on March nth. Its 
brightness fluctuated markedly, though on the whole 
it diminished rapidly, and its hue deepened accordingly. 
Dark lines of uranium and radium emanation have 
been found in its spectrum. 

The mythological history of Gemini, the Twins, is 
not without interest. The constellation is regarded as 
representing the twin brothers Castor and Pollux, 



I 



214 The Call of the Stars 

famous knights of antiquity who were paid divine 
honours both in Sparta and Rome. According to 
Homer, they were the sons of Leda and Tyndarus, King 
of Lacedaemon, and consequently brothers of Helen 
of Trojan fame. Other tradition relates that they 
were doughty sons of Jupiter and Leda, "so famed for 
love," as Cowley writes. They were the Damon and 
Pythias, the Pylades and Orestes of the sky, and were 
said to have been born at the same time with their 
sister Helen, out of an egg. Yet another legend asserts 
that Pollux and Helen only were children of Jupiter, and 
that Castor was the son of Tyndarus. Hence Pollux was 
immortal, while Castor, like every other human, was 
mortal. Castor excelled in equestrian exercises and the 
management of horses, while Pollux was renowned for 
his bravery with arms, and for boxing. They took part 
in the hunt of the Calydonian boar, and accompanied 
the Argonauts in quest of the Golden Fleece. 

Fair Leda's twins, in time to stars decreed. 

In the celebrated fight between the twin brothers 
and the sons of Aphareus, Castor was mortally wounded 
by Idas, but Pollux slew Lynceus, and Jupiter killed Idas 
with a flash of lightning. Whereupon, Pollux being in- 
consolable at the death of Castor, Jupiter, desiring to im- 
mortalise such proof of fraternal love, offered either to 
take him up to Olympus, or let him share his immortality 
with his brother. Pollux, it is said, preferred the latter, 
and so the brothers spend alternate days on Mount Olym- 
pus and in Pluto*s realm. As Virgil aptly puts it : 

Pollux offering his alternate life, 

Could free his brother, and could daily go 

By turns aloft, by turns descend below. 



The Night-Sky of Winter 215 

They were looked upon by the ancients as the friends 
and protectors of navigation, and were often repre- 
sented in the carved figureheads of ships. The balls 
of electric flame seen at the masthead and the yard- 
arm, in stormy weather, and known as "Led^an 
lights," or "St. Elmo's lamps," were named in honour 
of them. It will be remembered that St. Paul, after 
the eventful voyage that had ended in shipwreck on 
the island of Melita, sailed from there to Puteoli, "in 
a ship of Alexandria," "whose sign was Castor and 
Pollux" (Acts xxviii., 11), and naturally had a safe 
voyage to Rome. 

The Twins are usually represented in works of art 
as two youthful horsemen, with egg-shaped helmets 
crowned with stars, and with spears in their hands. 
The old Romans often swore by them, and later the 
name of the constellation itself came to be used in the 
sam.e way. 

A superstition prevailed among the Romans, and 
other nations, that Castor and Pollux often took part 
in their hard-fought battles, and led their troops to 
victory. Whenever they appeared, they were seen 
clad in rare armour, riding side by side, on magnificent 
snow-white steeds. It is said that at the great battle 
on the banks of Lake Regillus (b.c. 496), the Heavenly 
Twins suddenly appeared, armed and mounted, to aid 
the hard-pressed Romans in their desperate fight with 
the Etruscans, and afterwards carried the news of 
victory to the city. A temple (Plate XIX.) was sub- 
sequently erected to them in the Forum, on the very 
spot where they had been seen after the battle, op- 
posite the famous Temple of Vesta, by order of the 
dictator Albinus, and was later consecrated on the Ides 
of Quintilis, July 15th, 480 B.C., the anniversary of the 



2i6 The Call of the Stars 

battle. The temple was usually called that of Castor 
only, and was rebuilt more than once. The few frag- 
ments now remaining, consisting of three Corinthian 
columns with a very rich entablature, are of the 
finest Pentelic marble, and belong to the temple as it 
was restored by Tiberius in 6 a.d. Concerning these 
columns, careful antiquarians like Middleton say they 
are perhaps the most beautiful architectural fragments 
in Rome. 

Macaulay, in his stirring poem, The Battle of the Lake 
Regillus, most fittingly celebrates the two youthful 
warriors, as he makes Sergius the High Pontiff say : 

The Gods who live for ever 

Have fought for Rome to-day ! 
These be the Great Twin Brethren 

To whom the Dorians pray. 

Back comes the Chief in triumph, 

Who, in the hour of fight, 
Hath seen the Great Twin Brethren 

In harness on his right. 

Safe comes the ship to haven 

Through billows and through gales. 

If once the Great Twin Brethren 
Sit shining on the sails. 

Wherefore they washed their horses 

In Vesta's holy well, * 
Wherefore they rode to Vesta's door, 

I know, but may not tell. 

Here, hard by Vesta's temple. 

Build we a stately dome 
Unto the great Twin Brethren 

Who fought so well for Rome. 

• Lacus JuturncE — a spring that belonged, it is said, to the nymph 
Juturaa, the waters of which were believed to bring healing to mankind. 




Anderson 



Plate XIX. The Three Columns of the Temple of Castor and 
Pollux at Rome 



CHAPTER VII 

THE MILKY WAY — VARIABLE AND TEMPORARY STARS 

Heaven's broad causeway paved with stars. 

Wordsworth, Dion, Sec. IV. 

A MOST conspicuous and wonderful feature of the 
night-sky, in the absence of moonh'ght, is the broad, 
irregular band of diffused, softly glowing, misty light, en- 
circling the whole star-sphere, known as the Galaxy, or 
the Milky Way — La Voie Lactee. This great luminous 
belt, which has attracted special attention in all ages, 
consists of aggregations of enormously distant, faint 
stars, disposed in vast sparkling clouds, swarms, clus- 
ters, and streams, intermingled often with immense 
areas of green nebulous matter which serve as a lumi- 
nous background to the stars themselves. It is re- 
garded as the fundamental reference plane of the entire 
universe, as the equator is of the earth, and is quaintly 
referred to by Henry Vaughan in Sun-Days, as 

The Milky Way chalk't out with Suns. 

As the Milky Way is approached, the stars increase 
gradually in number, and are closer together in this 
region than elsewhere in the universe. In or close along 
its course, the outlines of which are roughly indicated 
on the charts, are to be found the majority of the first- 
magnitude stars, and generally, it may be said, the 

217 



2i8 The Call of the Stars 

naked-eye stars are most numerous in and around the 
Galaxy. Stellar clouds and star-swarms, which are 
looked upon as characteristic features of the Galaxy, 
are markedly confined within its borders, while star- 
clusters, though more numerous inside the Milky Way, 
are observed outside as well. Although, broadly speak- 
ing, the green or gaseous nebula are distributed in and 
near the Milky Way, the white nebulas, which are 
by far the most numerous, but whose precise constitu- 
tion remains undetermined, are located on either side, 
but are rather remote from certain stretches of it, and 
crowd toward the northern galactic pole. 

Barnard's remarkable series of photographs of its 
star-clouds, streams, clusters, holes, dark lanes, and 
nebulous masses, which will probably never be excel- 
led, have afforded much information as to the struc- 
ture of this mighty star-girdle of the Universe. 

Elizabeth Carter, who has written some of the best 
lines about the Milky Way, thus says of it : 

Throughout the Galaxy's extended line 
Unnumbered orbs in gay confusion shine. 
Where ev'ry star that gilds the gloom of night 
With the faint trembling of a distant light 
Perhaps illumes some system of its own 
With the strong influence of a radiant sun. 

The Milky Way, as it branches forth into divisions 
and ramifications, varies greatly both in width and 
brightness, and is inclined to the axis of the equator 
at an angle of about twenty-five degrees, the northern 
galactic pole being situated near Coma Berenices and 
the southern in Cetus. It includes within its limits 
about ninety-nine one-hundredths of all the stars, and 
occupies nearly one-tenth of the whole stellar dome, 



The Milky Way 219 

This majestical roof, fretted with golden fire. 

The distance of the galactic stars has been estimated 
at from ten to twenty thousand light years, or over 
sixty thousand million million miles. 

Across the relatively empty space in the vast ring or 
spiral of far-off stars, supposedly composing the Great 
White Way, and in which are situated some thousands 
of scattered stars, the proper motion of the sun is carry- 
ing the solar system from somewhere near its centre, 
and somewhat above its plane, toward its northern 
border. It is believed to be moving across the central 
opening at the rate of over two hundred million miles 
a year, and will, if it continues in a straight course, 
arrive at the edge of the Milky Way in the north, after 
a journey of some twenty-five million years. 

Winding among the constellations the Milky Way, or 
the Galaxy, as the reader may prefer to call it, may be 
seen in some portion of its extent, and at some hour of 
the night, at all seasons of the year. In summer it 
spans the heavens from north to south, passing some- 
what south-east of the zenith, displaying to advantage 
its great bifurcation and some of its splendid reaches. 
During autumn it sweeps from the north-east horizon 
across the zenith, to the south-west, and in winter it 
crosses from south-east to north-west, a little north of the 
zenith. In early spring it sweeps from north to south, 
passing south-west of the zenith, while between spring 
and summer it stretches along the northern horizon. 

Beginning near the North Pole, the Milky Way may 
be traced in the order of right ascension, through the 
constellations Cassiopeia, Perseus, and Auriga, and 
between the shining feet of Gemini and the horns of 
Taurus, where it intersects the ecliptic. Thence it 



220 The Call of the Stars 

passes over the club of Orion, through Monoceros, and 
over the head of Canis Major, to the prow of the ship 
Argo. On leaving Argo it goes through Charles's Oak, 
the lower part of the Southern Cross, and the feet of the 
Centaur. Here it is divided into two branches, the 
larger and brighter one passing through the celestial 
Altar, the tail of the Scorpion, the bow of Sagittarius, 
and Sobieski's Shield. 

Crossing the equinoctial on its way north, it winds 
over the feet of Antinous into Aquila, through Sagitta 
and up to Cygnus, where it involves the entire figure of 
the so-called Northern Cross. Thence it crosses a part 
of Cepheus, and passes on to Cassiopeia, where the 
tracing began. The other branch crosses below 
the heart of the Scorpion, and is eventually lost in the 
borders of Ophiuchus, though a great and vivid branch, 
which is usually represented as a continuation of it, 
runs down from Gamma Cygni through Beta Cygni or 
Albireo, almost to the equinoctial, where it seems to lose 
itself in a region only sparsely supplied with stars. 

In what is considered its widest part, namely the 
region between Orion and the Lesser Dog, it is about 
forty-five degrees in breadth, while in some of its 
narrowest portions, found between Cassiopeia and Per- 
seus, and at a point in the Southern Cross, it is not 
more than three or four degrees in width. It is both 
broad and brilliant in the region between Cyngus, 
where it is of marvellous richness, and the southern 
horizon, but its most brilliant part lies south of the 
equator. In Sagittarius may be seen spots which, to 
the naked eye, appear as luminous knots, while close 
to Deneb in Cygnus is a typical instance of a star- 
stream, easily visible with a prism binocular. 

Down in the southern Milky Way is a typical chasm, 



The Milky Way 221 

known as the great austral "Coal-sack.*' It is the 
most famous dark gap or hole in the Milky Way, and is 
situated between the Southern Cross and Alpha and 
Beta Centauri, in a part of the sky, otherwise so bright 
that it is the more noticeable. This great gap is a dark, 
oval or pear-shaped spot, about eight degrees long, and 
five degrees wide, with a single, faint, naked-eye star 
in the centre, and a few scattered, telescopic stars. In 
this remarkable region, somewhat below the Coal-sack, 
is the place of nearest approach of the great galactic 
belt to the South Pole, which is situated near the sixth- 
magnitude star Sigma, in the constellation Octans, the 
antarctic equivalent of Ursa Minor. 

There are a number of remarkable dark gaps or Coal- 
sacks, in Sagittarius, two of which, in the region near 
8 M, are shown in Plate IX. Then, too, there is, in the 
northern hemisphere, a hole or dark gap in the Milky 
Way, similar to, though perhaps less perfect than, the 
great southern one, near the top of the cross-shaped 
figure in Cygnus, called the "northern Coal-sack in 
Cygnus. " Many of the gaps or spots are true apertures, 
due possibly to the peculiar tendency of stars to accu- 
mulate in certain places, thus leaving others vacant, 
while some may be due to the presence of "dark 
nebulae.** A most interesting peculiarity, well seen 
during autumn and early winter, is the " great bifurca- 
tion** — that great rift dividing the Milky Way, from 
Cygnus in the northern hemisphere, all the way to 
Centaurus in the southern. 

The mythology of the Milky Way is especially inter- 
esting. According to almost universal fable, it has 
been regarded as the bright highway^ — the "Broadway 
of the Heavens*' — ^along which the Gods repaired 
to High Olympus, or it was the road traversed by 



222 The Call of the Stars 

the souls of the departed on "the way/' as Milton 
has it, 

To God's eternal home. 

To the Algonquin Indians, not only was it the path of 
departed souls, but the brighter stars along its borders 
were the camp-fires that marked the halting places of 
the spirits on their weary march to the happy himting- 
grounds. Longfellow alludes to this in Hiawathaj 
Chapter XV., in describing the journey of the gentle 
Chibiabos, the sweetest of musicians, to the land of the 
hereafter : 

Telling him a fire to kindle 

For all those that died thereafter, 

Camp-fires for their night encampments 

On their solitary journey 

To the kingdom of Ponemah, 

To the land of the hereafter. 

And again, in narrating how the "wrinkled, old No- 
komis nursed the little Hiawatha, " he thus refers to the 
Milky Way: 

Many things Nokomis taught him, 
Showed the broad, white road to heaven. 
Pathway of the ghosts, the shadows, 
Running straight across the heavens. 

By the ancient Mexicans the Milky Way was aptly 
termed the "Sister of the Rainbow." In Japan and 
China it was the "Celestial River. " To the Norsemen 
and Scandinavians it was the path to Valhalla, up 
which went the souls of their warriors who fell in battle. 
To the Pawnee Indians, it was a cloud of dust kicked 
up by a buffalo and a horse racing across the sky. In 



The Magellanic Clouds 223 

France it was known as " Le Chemin de Saint Jacques. " 
It is "Die Jakobstrasse " (Jacob's Road) of the Ger- 
mans, the mystic ladder, which the patriarch saw in his 
dream at Bethel, and beheld the ''angels of God ascend- 
ing and descending on it" (Genesis xxviii., 12). By 
the old English people it was sometimes called '' Watling 
Street," "Asgard's Bridge," and the "Fairies' Path." 
By Bacon the Galaxy, the "Silver River of Heaven," 
is compared to fortune thus: 

The way of fortune is like the Milky Way in the sky, 
which is a meeting or knot of a number of small stars, 
not seen asunder, but giving light together. So are there 
a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather 
faculties and customs, that make men fortimate. 

The Magellanic Clouds 

Situated in the southern hemisphere are the Magel« 
lanic Clouds, two remarkable objects, first named Cape 
Clouds, and otherwise known as the Nubecula Major 
and the Nubecula Minor. They were described , in 1 5 1 6, 
by Corsali, and were named after the great Portuguese 
circumnavigator, Magellan. In appearance they re- 
semble detached portions of the Milky Way. They are 
roughly of a circular form, and are situated in a locality 
singularly vacant of bright stars. They are nearer the 
South Pole than is the Galaxy, the Greater Cloud being 
in the constellation Dorado (the Swordfish) and the 
Lesser Cloud in Hydrus (the Little Water-serpent). 
The greater cloud covers a space in the sky of forty- 
two square degrees, and the lesser a space of about ten. 
WTiile the lesser cloud almost entirely disappears in full 
moonlight, and the greater one loses a considerable 



224 The Call of the Stars 

portion of its brightness, both are distinctly visible, in 
the southern hemisphere, on a clear, moonless night, 
and present a promiscuous intermingling of star-clouds, 
star-clusters, and gaseous nebulae. No parallax has yet 
been found for them. 

The Zodiacal Light 

The Zodiacal Light, quaintly referred to by Elgie, in 
his Night-Skies of a Year, as that "elusive dream of 
quiet beauty, studied for centuries but mysterious still, " 
may be defined as a faint, cone-shaped, pearly radiance 
seen in the west after evening twilight in the spring, and 
in the east before morning twilight in the autiunn. It 
lies along the ecliptic, and, in a clear and moon-free sky, 
may be traced almost to the meridian south of the 
zenith, slanting up from the sunset glow in a line, 
which, in the northern hemisphere, leans towards the 
south. Its figure, which resembles a lens edgeways, is 
broadest close to the horizon, where it may be twenty- 
five or thirty degrees wide, and is brightest along its 
central line. 

In northern and middle latitudes, this mystic light is 
visible in the evening about an hour and a half after 
sunset, from the middle of February to the middle of 
April, extending upward toward the Pleiades, and in 
the morning during September and October extending 
towards the south. It is usually much fainter than the 
Milky Way, though it has at times been seen brighter, 
and is sometimes taken for the twilight or dawn, but its 
nature may be readily recognised from its form, though 
it is somewhat difficult to determine exactly where its 
borders are. 

In tropical regions, where it appears as a band of 



The Zodiacal Light 225 

light, rather than as a cone, it is visible the year round, 
about an hour or less after sunset, and is reported to be 
easily seen in full moonlight. It was known to the 
Arabs as the "False Dawn," and was called the "Zodi- 
acal Light," because it lies within the circle of the 
zodiac. Attention was first directed to it in 1663 by. 
a clergyman named Childrey, but the first particular 
description of it was by the elder Cassini (Giovanni 
Domenico) in 1683. 

The exact nature of the light remains more or less a 
mystery, and all that can, with certainty, be said of it 
is that it exists. The polariscope and the spectroscope 
show it to be merely reflected sunlight. One theory 
regards it as the reflection of light from diffused dust, 
probably meteoric matter, revolving round the sun 
nearly- in the plane of the ecliptic, while another sup- 
poses it to be a very faint extension of the sun's 
corona. 

Occasionally a very interesting phenomenon, known 
as the Green Flashy is seen, in some latitudes, just as the 
sun is disappearing over the western horizon. It is 
characterised by the shooting up of a little green flame, 
and the turning green of the tiny tip that is left of the 
sun, just before it finally disappears. 

The Gegenschein, the weird, "Counter-glow" to the 
sun, which travels through that part of the night sky 
immediately opposite the sun, is a faintly marked patch 
of light, somewhat oval in shape, from five to ten 
degrees in breadth, and ten to twenty degrees in length. 
It falls in the Milky Way in June and December and is 
then invisible. At other times it may be looked for on 
a perfectly clear and moonless night, when the sun is 
considerably below the horizon. The best time for 
observing it is in the autumn months, September and 

IS 



226 The Call of the Stars 

October. It is, as Serviss says, "an extremely elusive 
phenomenon," seen only under the most favourable 
atmospheric conditions, and is generally considered as 
being of similar origin to the zodiacal light. 

It was not discovered until 1854, and is looked upon 
by some astronomers as a sort of tail to the earth, seen 
sidewise, made up of hydrogen and helium, driven off 
from it, in a direction contrary to the sun. Professor 
Barnard, it may be observed, has devoted much atten- 
tion to both it and the zodiacal light, in the endeavour to 
solve the mystery of these two strange appearances in 
the night-skies. 

The Aurora Borealis 

One of the most wonderftil sights in the night-skies 
is the Aurora Borealis, a luminous, awe-inspiring phe- 
nomenon, manifesting itself by beams and streamers of 
light shooting up from the northern horizon toward the 
zenith, or appearing as an arch of light across the 
heavens from east to west. The streamers, which are 
generally rather brighter toward the west, often ascend 
in a fan shape, from a dusky line or segment a few 
degrees above the horizon. When the light extends 
southward beyond the zenith, it forms what is known 
as the corona. 

The Aurora Borealis is popularly called the "North- 
em Lights," the "Northern Dawn," or the "Merry 
Dancers," and though sometimes seen in temperate 
latitudes, is viewed to best advantage in the Arctic 
regions, and is remarkable for the brilliant display of 
colours with which it is often accompanied. The pre- 
vailing colour in the higher latitudes is, it is said, 
usually white. When the colours brighten, they take 



The Aurora Borealis 227 

on a golden yellow tinge, the edges of the rays being 
marked by bands of red and green. Not infrequently, 
the display has the appearance of arches of fiery mist 
in the sky toward the north. The height of the Aurora 
above the surface of the ground, varies usually from 
about twenty-two to forty-four miles, though often 
it is as high as six hundred miles. 

Observations show that auroral displays are more 
frequent before than after midnight, and that they are 
intimately associated with an outbreak of sun-spots 
and with terrestrial magnetic disturbances, the focus 
of the displays being in the north magnetic pole. In 
any locality the displays are more numerous in March 
and September, and are fewer in December, and again 
still fewer in June. 

The Aurora is supposed, as suggested by Dudley, to 
be due to the presence in the atmosphere of a very 
rare, inert, gaseous element called neon, discovered by 
Ramsay in 1898, which has the property of becoming 
luminous when acted upon by magnetic discharges, 
whether of the earth currents or of streams of electric 
atoms called ions, sent forth by disturbances on the 
sun's surface. The displays, it is held, result from the 
neon gas, which becomes condensed by the cold near 
the poles, catching and holding the magnetic streams. 
A phenomenon in the southern hemisphere, of corre- 
sponding nature to the Aurora Borealis, and having its 
centre at the south magnetic pole, is called the Aurora 
Australis. 

The beautiful primrose-coloured Sun-glow, that often 
lights up the northern sky during clear summer nights, 
is a sort of reflection thrown up by the sun, which at 
this season, in northern latitudes, does not sink very 
far below the northern horizon. 



228 The Call of the Stars 

NehulcB 

Those strange, weird-looking, cloud-like celestial ob- 
jects — worlds it may be in the making — which recent 
advances in celestial photography have shown to exist 
in different parts of the sky, are known as nebula 
{clouds) or "fire-mists." They are generally divided 
into two distinct classes, the green nebulse, and the 
white nebulae. Their chemical composition is thought 
to be very simple, and their extent is known to be 
colossal. So vast are they that many of them cover 
billions of times the space occupied by the solar system. 
Furthermore they are so extremely tenuous that they 
appear merely as faint spots of haze against the back- 
ground of the sky. 

Nebulae of a greenish tint are found to be entirely 
in a gaseous condition, being composed of an unknown 
element named "nebulium, " with which hydrogen and 
helium are associated. They were discovered as such 
by Sir William Huggins in 1864, and give a spectrum, 
a discontinuous one, consisting only of a few bright 
lines, chiefly green and blue, characteristic of the lighter 
gases. The wonderful and conspicuous Orion nebula is 
a striking representative of this class. Only a small 
minority of nebulae, however, are green or gaseous 
nebulae — bright-line nebulae — and these tend to con- 
gregate in and near the Milky Way, most conveniently 
considered as the equator of the skies. 

White nebulae, such as the well-known spiral in the 
girdle of Andromeda, give a faint, so-called continuous 
spectrum, without dark lines, which denotes that they 
are composed either of gas under heavy pressure or 
great heat, or of something in a solid or liquid state. 
The great majority of nebulae belong to this class, and 



Nebulce 229 

while distributed on either side of the Milky Way, they 
are rather remote from certain stretches of it, and crowd 
toward the northern galactic pole. In some regions of 
the sky nebulas are more plentiful than stars, while in 
others they seem to be entirely absent. Many thou- 
sands of them exist, and about ten thousand have been 
catalogued. 

Serving somewhat as a connecting link between 
nebulae and the finished product are the so-called 
nebulous stars — stars buried in the depths of a faint 
nebulous haze. Their spectra show broader hydrogen 
and helium lines than the gaseous nebulae, indicating 
that the gases are hotter and more condensed. Such 
nebulous stars are to be found in the Pleiades group, 
and in those connected with the Great Nebula in Orion. 

Far beyond Orion bright 
Cloud on cloud the star-haze lies; 
Million years bear down the light 
Earthward from those ghost-like eyes. 

Francis T. Palgrave 

Nebulae are of various shapes, and, in certain cases, 
seem to be involved in a vast whirlpool motion. Some 
two or three of them are bright enough to be visible to 
the naked eye, while a few are within the range of 
small instruments. The majority, however, are so far 
off, that only an inadequate view can be had of them, 
even with the highest optical aid. Some nebulae, the 
so-called planetary nebulas, are small roundish or 
sHghtly oval objects, looking like ill-defined planets, 
and are of about uniform brightness throughout. The 
largest and finest representative of this class is known 
as the Owl Nebula in Ursa Major (Plate IV.), a few 
degrees from Merak. Others, like the Andromeda 



230 The Call of the Stars 

Nebula (Plate XV.) , are elliptical, while a few, like the 
so-called Ring Nebula in Lyra (Plate VII.), are annular, 
with a central condensation somewhat resembling a 
faint- star. There are also nebulae of irregular form, 
the most notable being the Great Nebula in Orion 
(Plate XVIII.), the Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius, and the 
Dumb-bell Nebula in Vulpecula (Plate VIII.), a small 
and inconspicuous asterism north of the Dolphin. Neb- 
ulae which more or less resemble in appearance the 
telescopic comets have been termed cometary nebulse. 
There are, in addition, a number of double nebulae, and 
a few that are variable in brightness, the Trifid Nebula, 
above mentioned, being a notable variable. 

The great majority of nebulas, it is believed, have a 
spiral form, the one best showing its spiral nature being 
the famous Whirlpool Nebula of Lord Rosse, in Canes 
Venatici, the Hunting Dogs. Spectroscopical investiga- 
tions have shown that spiral nehulcB generally exhibit 
the spectra of the white class, and yet bright lines due 
to glowing gases are sometimes seen. Almost invari- 
ably, they consist of a bright, rapidly rotating, disk- 
shaped, central portion, from which radiate two great 
spiral, flaming arms on opposite sides, like the streamers 
from a spinning pin-wheel, extending outwards to the 
limits of the spiral. They are much denser toward the 
centre, and along and in the arms of the spiral are 
bright knots, that look as if the nebulous matter were 
there condensing into stars, as clouds condense into 
drops, though no telescope has ever resolved these 
nebular knots or points of condensation into true stars. 
Professor Perrine of the Lick Observatory considered 
that with the Crossley reflector upwards of half a 
million spirals were visible. 

The first successful photograph of a nebula — the 



Double Stars 231 

nebula in Orion — was made in 1880 by Dr. Henry 
Draper at Hastings-on-Hudson, N. Y. En passant, it 
may be noted that, up to the present, the finest nebular 
photographs have been made with reflecting telescopes. 

Double and Multiple Stars 

While to the naked eye most stars appear single, 
many are found by telescopic or spectroscopic aid to be 
double, triple, quadruple, or multiple stars. It has 
been estimated that one out of every six stars is a 
double or multiple star, though, according to Campbell 
of the Lick Observatory, a much larger percentage of 
stars will be found thus split up. In some cases stars 
appear double, seeming in fact to almost touch each 
other, because they happen to lie, like the street lamps 
in nearly the same line of vision, and yet one of the two 
components may be a vast distance beyond the other. 
Stars which thus appear double by the accident of 
perspective, and are not actually associated, are called 
optical doubles. Only a small portion of the stars, 
however, have proved to be really optical doubles. 
Certain stars, such as Mizar, Alpha Capricorni, Zeta 
Ceti, and Epsilon Lyrae, appear to be double, even 
when viewed with the unaided eye, and are loosely 
called double stars. Then, too, some true doubles are 
sufficiently "wide" to be easily divided by a prism 
binocular. Astronomers, however, do not consider 
a star double unless a telescope is required to separate 
its components. Generally, it may be said, a star whose 
components are less than three minutes apart cannot 
be divided without optical aid. 

Those stars which stand close together, and form an 
actual physical system, (like, for instance, the moon and 



232 The Call of the Stars 

the eaxth), and can be separated with the telescope, are 
physical doubles, and are called visual or telescopic 
binaries. They revolve round their common centre of 
gravity in elliptical orbits, at distances which, though 
limited, cover many hundred million miles. As far as 
at present known, their periods range from about five 
years to nearly sixteen hundred years or more. They 
have been plentifully found in every part of the sky. 
Moreover, many of the brightest stars in the heavens 
are binary stars. Among the most celebrated are 
Alpha Centauri, Gamma Virginis, and Sirius. About 
thirteen thousand are recorded in Burnham's great 
catalogue of double stars, and the number is fast in- 
creasing. Such dual systems as started as companions, 
not by direct collision but by tidal division, are looked 
upon as twin suns. In a large proportion of cases the 
two components are nearly equal in light-giving power, 
the companion stars being frequently blue and green. 
Not infrequently, however, the components are very 
unequal, a mighty star, it may be, being coupled up 
with a comparatively small one, in which case they 
often exhibit most beautifully contrasting colours. 
Among them may be found pairs of cherry-red and 
green, of orange and sapphire blue, of yellow and rose- 
red, of orange and purple, of orange and lilac, of yellow 
and white, of white and purple, of white and blue, of 
pale green and blue, and so on. Perhaps the most 
beautiful examples of the diversity of colours are 
Gamma in Andromeda, Beta in Cygnus, Epsilon in 
Bootes, Eta in Cassiopeia, and Iota in Cancer. 

The shortest period for a visual or telescopic binary 
is that of the fourth-magnitude star. Delta Equulei, 
which has a fifth-magnitude companion, the swiftly 
circling pair completing their revolution in 5.7 years. 



Multiple Stars 233 

The well-known double star Castor has a period of 347 
years and Zeta Aquarii one of about 750 years. Then, 
too, there are many binaries which probably take 
thousands of years to complete a revolution. The first 
star ever discovered to be double was Mizar, the star 
in the bend of the handle of The Dipper, and really a 
compound star, in 1650; and the first to be discovered 
telescopically as consisting of two stars close together 
was Gamma Arietis, in 1664; while the first binary to 
have its orbit satisfactorily computed was Xi Ursae 
Majoris, its period of revolution being about sixty 
years. 

Again, there are some stars which comprise so many 
constituents that they can best be described as multi- 
ples, cases where the telescope splits up an apparently 
single star into three, four, or sometimes six or seven 
separate stars, some of which may be dark bodies, even 
larger than the lucent ones. One of the best known of 
these multiple stars is Theta Orionis, the star in the 
nebula in the sword of Orion, which splits up into six 
components. Moreover, Epsilon Lyrse, a faint star 
on the frame of the lyre, close to the brilliant Vega, 
divides into seven stars; while Sigma Orionis, a star 
immediately below the lowermost star of the giant's 
belt, splits up, in a three-inch telescope, into six tiny 
dots of light. A star with eight components has been 
discovered in Lepus, and Burnham mentions one with 
sixteen components — a. veritable stellar family. 

Furthermore, there exists a class of stars which 
always appear single, even in the largest telescopes, and 
whose duplicity can be detected only by means of 
the spectroscope. Such stars are called spectroscopic 
binaries. Over three hundred such binaries are now 
known, and new pairs are being rapidly revealed. The 



234 The Call of the Stars 

orbits of more than seventy have been fairly well 
determined, showing periods of revolution ranging from 
less than five hours up to nearly two and a third years. 
The distances between the two components vary from 
fifty thousand to nearly one hundred and five milHon 
miles. Hence it is apparent that the spectroscopic bi- 
naries are the fastest revolving couples. The transition 
from multiple or compound stars to closely grouped 
masses of stars called clusters is both a gradual and 
a natural one. A few star-clusters are resolvable to the 
naked eye, but most of them require a telescope to show 
the separate stars, though the instrument need not, in 
all cases, be one of high power. Most of the telescopic 
clusters are family groups like the double, triple, and 
multiple stars. They ordinarily cover an area of sky 
rather less than the average apparent size of the moon. 
Three of the most beautiful clusters were noticed and 
recorded by the ancients; namely, the well-known 
naked-eye group of the Pleiades, the scattered group 
of the Hyades, and the very effective, but fainter group 
Praesepe, long called the Beehive. Another somewhat 
scattered group of very faint stars is the small cluster 
called Berenice's Hair. Perhaps the finest of all irregu- 
lar star-clusters is that situated in the sword-hand of 
Perseus, and sometimes called ''Chi Persei.'' And, 
again, there is reason to believe that even the sun 
itself is a member of a rather open cluster of perhaps 
one hundred stars. 

Throughout the heavens there are many so-called 
globular clusters, the grandest being those in Hercules, 
Centaurus, and Toucan, in which thousands of minute 
stars are closely packed together. There are over one 
hundred star-clusters now known, the finest being in 
the southern hemisphere. A remarkable group in the 



Variable Stars 235 

Southern Cross is composed of no stars, seven of which 
only exceed the tenth magnitude; among the principal 
ones of this number, two are red, two green, one green- 
ish-blue, and three others are pale green. So beautiful 
were the colours of this cluster that the great astrono- 
mer, Sir John Herschel, named it the" Jewelled Cluster." 

Variable Stars 

A remarkable peculiarity of a large number of the 
stars is to alter their brightness, either periodically or 
irregularly. All that thus change their brightness more 
or less are called Variable Stars, or Variables. Until 
near the close of the nineteenth century but little 
attention was paid to them. Now, more than a thou- 
sand variables are known, and perhaps three thousand 
more are comprised within star-clusters, while new 
members are constantly being discovered. Among the 
clusters that abound in variables are the Omega 
cluster in Centaurus, the clusters 13 M in Hercules, 
3 M in the Hunting Dogs, and 5 M in Libra. It is even 
thought by some that all the stars, including the sun, 
are more or less variable. Their study is of more than 
ordinary interest to the amateur observer, possessed of 
good eyesight and the average amount of perseverance. 
Many variables are easily observed at maximum, and 
some even at minimum, without optical aid of any 
kind. Some are visible in a good opera-glass or prism 
binocular, while others need a two-and-a-half or three- 
inch telescope. Fine and quite accurate results can be 
obtained by the amateur in this most fascinating line 
of work with a three-inch glass or larger. Here, as in 
other branches of astronomy, photography has been 
employed with marked success, not a few of the 



236 The Call of the Stars 

variables (including a number of insignificant ones) 
discovered in recent years having been found by the 
study of photographic star-charts. 

Following the Harvard method of observing variable 
stars the observer may select a sequence of comparison 
stars for each variable, entering their photometric 
magnitude to the nearest tenth on a chart arranged for 
the purpose. From the position of the variable, as 
noted on a star-atlas, the star can be soon located by 
the telescope. Once it is identified, the observation of 
the variable consists in estimating the magnitude by the 
so-called method of relative comparison — comparing it 
with a brighter and then with a fainter star. 

The American Association of Variable Star Observers, 
recently formed, will tend to foster an earnest co-opera- 
tion in this special line of observational work. 

Regarding the behaviour of a variable, it has been 
observed that the longer its period, the less is it dis- 
posed to follow regular laws, and that the shorter its 
period, the more precisely does it repeat its remarkable 
light changes. 

In one type of variables, known as long-period vari- 
ables, it will be found that the periods of the stars are 
long and irregular, sometimes varying considerably. 
None of the periods exceed two years, the majority 
cover about one year, and none are less than two 
months. Moreover, the maxima and the minima are 
apt to be more or less irregular; and the time from 
minimum to maximum is usually shorter than from 
maximum to minimtmi. Then, too, long-period vari- 
ables quite characteristically show a rather ruddy light, 
especially when fading. The longer their period, the 
more red is their light. A remarkable representative of 
this class is known as Omicron Ceti, or Mira, the won- 



Variable Stars 237 

derful star of Cetus. It has been under observation for 
over three hundred years, having been first seen by Fab- 
ricius, a Dutch observer, in 1596. It is a most noted ob- 
ject, and is the first variable star ever recognised as such. 
Its average period is about 331! days, in the course of 
which it increases from the ninth to about the third mag- 
nitude, and then declines again to invisibility. Its 
period, however, is subject to various irregularities. 
Fiu-thermore, sometimes at its maximum it is much 
more brilliant than at other times, occasionally, as in 
December, 1906, exceeding the second magnitude in 
brightness. It is estimated that at a bright maximum 
it emits fifteen hundred times as much light as at a low 
minimum. Its variations, as also those of long-period 
variables generally, remain as yet without any com- 
pletely satisfactory explanation. The general idea nowa- 
days is that they lie in the star itself, and may be due 
to the instability of light, as a result of advancing age. 
The majority of variables belong to this — the Mira 
Ceti — class. 

There is another type of variables — the Algol type — 
which, at regular intervals, exhibit a rapid diminution 
in their light. There are some eighty such "winking'* 
stars now known, and their periods range from about 
ten hours to nearly five days. Their variability is 
believed to be caused by a relatively dark companion 
eclipsing the bright star as the two revolve, close 
together, around their common centre of gravity. The 
majority of the stars of this type are white in colour, 
and in most respects are analagous to the spectroscopic 
binaries. 

The typical star is Beta Persei — known as Algol, 
"the Demon,** from its " slowly- winking eye** — whose 
variations can be easily watched without optical aid. 



238 The Call of the Stars 

The star Algol is the most notable variable in the 
heavens, and, unlike Mira Ceti, runs through its cycle 
of variations not in months but in days. Its period has 
been determined with great exactness, so that its 
minima of brightness admit of easy prediction. It 
changes from the second to the third magnitude and 
back again once in about every three days (2 da^^-s, 20 
hours, 48 minutes, and 55 seconds), and at its period of 
lowest brilliancy loses about three-fourths of its light. 
Its variability is apparently due to a huge, relatively 
dark body, partially eclipsing its light (just as the sun's 
light is cut off by the moon), as the two revolve, at 
close quarters, around a common centre of gravity, or 
perhaps about another invisible body, in an orbit 
turned edgewise to the earth. The distance of the 
relatively dark star from Algol is estimated at about 
thirty- two hundred thousand miles. 

In the stern of the ship Argo, in the southern 
hemisphere, there is an Algol variable, both components 
of which are bright, and are believed to be circling 
around each other in actual contact. The period of 
light variation is estimated at about one and a half 
days. 

A most interesting short-period, naked-eye variable 
and an easy telescopic double is the star Delta in 
Cepheus. It is a typical example of the Cepheid 
variables, which, unlike the Algol variables, have no 
period when the brightness is constant — the light 
changes being continuous. It changes from about the 
third and a half to the fourth and a half magnitude, and 
back again, in rather more than five days (5 days, 8 
hours, 47 minutes, and 39 seconds). 

Another remarkable short-period variable is the third 
and a-half-magnitude star Eta Aquil^, which loses 



Variable Stars 239 

rather more than a degree of its brightness, and recovers 
it again, in a Httle over seven days (7 days, 4 hours, 14 
minutes, and 4 seconds). It is believed to be a spectro- 
scopic binary, the companion star being too close to be 
revealed by the telescope. Its variations are easily 
followed with the naked eye. 

Not less interesting are those variable stars of short 
period, closely related to the Algol variables, of which 
Beta Lyras is the best-known example. In this class 
two unequal, self-luminous stars appear to revolve 
around each other in a plane passing through the earth, 
each eclipsing the other in turn during their revolution. 
The periods of these stars range from thirty days down 
to a few hours. The type star. Beta Lyrae — a star of 
*' reciprocal eclipse" — is a triple star in a three-inch 
instrument, and an easy double for a two-inch. It is 
ordinarily of the third magnitude, (3.4), from which it 
passes in a period of rather less than thirteen days (12 
days, 21 hours, and 47 minutes), through two minima, 
only the alternates of which are equal. At one minimum 
it fades to magnitude 3.9 and at the other to 4.5. Its 
variations are readily recognisable to the unaided eye, 
by reason of its close proximity to so bright a comparison 
star as Gamma Lyrae. 

Of the irregularly fluctuating variables, the star Eta 
in the keel of Argo is perhaps the most conspicuous. 
It is unquestionably the most erratic of all the promi- 
tent variable stars. In the seventeenth century it 
shone as a star of the fourth magnitude, and a century 
later as one of the second magnitude, while in 1837 it 
was equal to Alpha Centauri in brightness. It then 
began to fade, but in 1843 it again blazed up, and 
reached the zero magnitude, ranking next to Sirius. 
Since then it has steadily decHned, being at present 



240 The Call of the Stars 

of only the seventh magnitude, and hence invisible 
to the naked eye. 

Temporary Stars 

Besides the variable stars, there are the new or 
temporary stars that have received the name of Novcb — 
stars which occasionally blaze out suddenly, in regions 
of the sky where none had been visible before, and then 
more or less quickly fade away, "as if a beacon out in 
the stellar depths had suddenly been fired. " Such stars 
are most apt to break out in the Milky Way, and are 
characterized by a sudden rise to a great maximum, 
which, notwithstanding later possible increases, is never 
again attained. The earliest of these rather rare and 
erratic phenomena appears to have been observed by 
the Greek astronomer Hipparchus in 134 B. C, and 
which led to the compilation of his celebrated catalogue 
of stars. Chinese annals give picturesque accoimt of a 
radiant temporary star that appeared in A. D. 173 in 
Centaurus, and remained visible for eight months. It 
was reported to have sparkled in five colours, and to 
have resembled a large bamboo mat. 

The most celebrated of temporary stars, and the first 
of which there is any scientific record, flashed out in 
Cassiopeia in 1572. It was detected on the evening of 
November 11, of that year, by Tycho Brahe, though 
really discovered three months earlier by Schuler at 
Wittenberg. It was known as "Tycho*s Star," and 
was as bright as Venus at her best, being seen distinctly 
in the daytime. It gradually waned until the spring 
of 1574, when it disappeared from view and has never 
since been seen. It has been fancifully identified with 
the "Star of Bethlehem," an assumption, however, 



Temporary Stars 241 

without any scientific foundation. A similar star 
appeared in the right foot of Ophiuchus in the fall of 
1604. It was discovered by John Brunowski, one of 
Kepler's pupils, and was known as Kepler's Star. It 
was a white star of the first magnitude, and shone 
brighter than Jupiter. Its radiance slowly waned, and 
vanished early in 1606. 

On May 12, 1866, a new star, almost as bright as the 
"Pearl of the Crown" (Gemma) itself, suddenly ap- 
peared in Corona Borealis. It soon faded, however, to 
the ninth magnitude, but is still visible with telescopes. 
It was discovered by Birmingham, and is known as the 
" Blaze Star" of the " Northern Crown. " It is notable 
as being the first temporary star to be studied by the 
spectroscope. 

In August, 1885, a new star of the sixth magnitude 
flamed out in the centre of the Andromeda nebula. It 
remained visible with telescopes for a few months, and 
then faded from view. Another temporary star was 
discovered in January, 1892, in Auriga, by Dr. Ander- 
son at Edinburgh. At its full brightness, which it 
attained only gradually, this somewhat historic Nova, 
was of about the fourth magnitude. In three months 
it had sunk to the twelfth, but brightened during 
August to the ninth magnitude, after which it slowly 
faded out into a planetary nebula, a destiny which 
seems to await on temporary stars. 

Early in the morning of February 22, 1901, Dr. 
Anderson discovered a brilliant Nova not far from the 
celebrated variable star Algol, in Perseus. It was 
nearly as bright as Tycho's Star, and was the most 
brilliant new star to appear since Kepler's in 1604. At 
the time of its discovery it was of 2.7 magnitude, but 
within two days it was brighter than Capella. Soon, 
16 



242 The Call of the Stars 

however, its radiance began to wane, and before the 
middle of April it had sunk to the fifth magnitude. It 
flared up again to almost the third magnitude, after 
which it faded away, and became lost to sight by the 
end of the year. Photographs taken with the reflecting 
telescopes at Lick and Yerkes observatories, some six 
months after its discovery, showed an extensive nebu- 
lous spiral encircling the star. Later the nebulosity 
disappeared, and the phenomenon, as it now exists, con- 
sists of a tiny telescopic star of the twelfth magnitude. 
The Nova first shone with a bluish-white light, which 
later turned yellow, and finally, as its radiance decreased, 
became red. As the star, according to commonly 
accepted estimate, is approximately three hundred 
light years distant, the so-called collision which caused 
the flare-up in 1901 actually occurred about the year 
1600. It may here be mentioned, however, that some 
investigations, notably those of Bergstrand and Very, 
differently place the star's distance at from about 
sixty-five to one hundred and thirty light years 
only. 

In March, 1903, Turner at Oxford discovered a new 
star in the constellation Gemini. It was of a crimson 
colour, and faded out rapidly, showing the usual tend- 
ency towards development into a nebula. Its spectrum 
indicated the presence of hydrogen and helium. On 
March 12, 191 2, a new star, called Enebo's Nova, 
blazed out in the same constellation, about two degrees 
south of Theta. It was of a creamy-white colour, and 
of about the fourth magnitude, and was easily visible 
to the naked eye. Its brightness fluctuated markedly, 
though on the whole it diminished rapidly, and its hue 
deepened accordingly. Dark lines of uranium and 
radium emanation were found in its spectrum. It was 



Temporary Stars 243 

early in June, 191 8, that a new star, Nova Aquilae, 
suddenly blazed forth in the Soaring Eagle. 

It is generally thought nowadays that the outbursts 
of temporary stars are the result of some sort of collision, 
although, as suggested by Barnard, the flare-ups may 
be produced by some sudden change in the stars* 
physical condition by forces inherent in the stars 
themselves. 

Expressed in a general form, the prevailing idea, 
which is a modification of Seeliger's hypothesis, is that 
these outbursts are due to obscure bodies, extinguished 
suns, so to speak, encountering a vast invisible nebula, 
or wide-spread meteoric swarm, as they hurtle at almost 
unthinkable speed through space. Colliding with such 
masses with tremendous force, their surfaces are sud- 
denly raised to incandescence, through resultant fric- 
tion, just as tiny shooting stars are ignited by dashing 
through the earth's atmosphere. Furthermore, the 
nebulous or meteoric matter, hitherto dark and invisible, 
being suddenly lighted up by the new blazing star, is 
for the time rendered more or less distinctly visible. 
As the stars pass out of the material with which they 
have collided, their brilliant light quickly fades, inas- 
much as their surfaces only are heated by the collision. 
And again, the secondary flare-ups that are at times 
observed in temporary stars, are, it is believed, due 
to secondary colHsions with invisible masses of nebulous 
or meteoric matter. 

During the past twenty-five years about seventeen 
new stars have been seen, of which no less than four- 
teen have been found by the energetic force of Harvard 
College Observatory. 



CHAPTER VIII 



STELLAR DISTANCES 



Behold the height of the stars, how high they are! 

Job xxii., 12. 

In measuring the distance of a celestial body, or, as 
astronomers say, determining its parallax, the calcula-^ 
tion may be readily made by a method similar to that 
used by surveyors in the measurement of terrestrial 
distances. In general, parallax — from the Greek 
xapaXXa^t? a shift or alternation — may be defined as the 
apparent displacement of an object as a result of the 
change in position of the observer. By way of illustra- 
tion, let the observer hold his finger or a pencil, a foot or 
more in front of him. Upon looking at it with first one 
eye and then the other, he will notice that it seems to 
change its position with reference to any object beyond 
it. Now this apparent change in position of an object 
to its background, when viewed alternately from two 
separate points, is technically termed a parallax. 

In astronomy, different names have been applied to 
the parallax of a heavenly body, according to the differ- 
ent positions of the observer or observers and the body. 
The geocentric or true place of the moon, or any other 
celestial body, is that in which it would be seen by a 
hypothetical observer at the centre of the earth. 
The apparent or observed place is that in which it is 

244 



Stellar Distances 245 

actually seen by a real observer on the surface of the 
earth. The parallax of a body, called also its geocentric 
or horizontal parallax^ is the difference in direction 
between its true and apparent places. It is the angle 
subtended (measured) by the semi-diameter of the 
earth from any body of the solar system. The angle 
subtended by the earth's equatorial semi-diameter is 
termed the equatorial horizontal parallax. The annual 
or heliocentric parallax is the angle subtended (measured) 
by the semi-diameter of the earth's orbit, from the 
more distant fixed stars. 

In the measurement of the distance of any inaccessible 
object, when the base-line, namely the distance be- 
tween the points of observation, is known, and also the 
angles formed by the lines of direction at the opposite 
ends of the base line, it is easy to find by simple trigo- 
nometry the other parts of the triangle, and to calculate 
how far off the object is. Applying this principle to 
ascertain the distance of celestial bodies, the longest 
base-line that can be obtained on earth, is about eight 
thousand miles — the diameter of the earth. A longer 
line in space, is the entire diameter of the earth's orbit 
or about one hundred and eighty-six million miles. 
For convenience of calculation, astronomers employ 
the radius, or semi-diameter, in either case instead of the 
whole diameter for a base-line. The semi-diameter, or 
equatorial radius, of the earth is used as a base-line for 
measuring the distances of the moon and nearer planets, 
and the semi-diameter, or mean radius, of the terrestrial 
orbit, for measuring the distances of the stars. 

A simple, though perhaps not the most accurate, 
method for ascertaining the distance of the moon, the 
nearest celestial body to the earth, consists in observing 
that sateUite, from widely separated points on the earth, 



246 The Call of the Stars 

but in very nearly the same longitude. Let observers 
at the two places determine at the same instant, with a 
meridian-circle or some equivalent instrument, the 
moon's zenith distance. From the directions of the 
moon thus ascertained, and the distance apart of 
the observers, which is known to start with, it is easy 
to find by a simple trigonometrical process the moon's 
distance. 

Following roughly the methods of Young, Serviss, 
Poor and others, let M in Fig. 2 represent the moon, A 



Fig. 2. The Measurement of the Moon's Distance. 

the location of an observer in the northern hemisphere, 
B the location of another observer in the southern 
hemisphere, and E the centre of the earth. The zenith 
of the observer at A is in the direction E A Z", and that 
of the observer at B in the direction E B 71, The 
angle A E B at the centre of the earth is equal to the 
latitude difference of the observers at A and B. The 
sides A E and B E being radii of the earth, their length 
is known. Hence the angles E A B and E B A can be 
easily calculated. Subtracting these two angles respec- 
tively from E A M and E B M gives the interior angles 
M A B and MBA. And as the length of the side A B 
is already known, for it is the distance apart of the 



Stellar Distances 247 

two observers, the sides A M and B M can be readily 
found. 

Now in the triangle E A M or E B M, as the two sides 
and the included angle are known, it is easy to find the 
other parts of the triangle, and to compute the distance 
from the centre of the earth to the moon, E M. The 
moon's mean parallax is found to be 57.2' which corre- 
sponds to 60.3 times the earth's equatorial radius, or 
238,840 miles. 

The foregoing is the simple method, on the theory 
that the earth is a sphere of uniform density. But the 
earth is not a sphere, nor is it of uniform density. 
Therefore, in practice, allowances, which are small, are 
made for these conditions, and thus proper values of 
the radii and angles are obtained for use in the 
computations. 

In estimating the distance of the sun, as its direct 
determination by the measurement of the solar parallax, 
after the manner of the lunar parallax, is practically 
impossible, other and indirect methods have been 
employed. Among these may be mentioned the 
parallaxes of Mars and of some of the planetoids (de- 
termined best by heliometer observations or from a 
series of photographs), the transits of Venus, the 
aberration of light (a phenomenon which is the result of 
the combined effects of the velocity of light and of the 
earth's orbital motion), and various irregularities in the 
motions of the moon, the inner planets, Venus and Mars, 
and the planetoid Eros. 

A most simple method, easy to understand, is that 
known as Delisle's method (Fig. 3) which takes advan- 
tage of various observations of the transit of Venus 
across the sun's disk, a phenomenon that last took 
place on December 6, 1882, and will not occur again 



248 The Call of the Stars 

until June 8, 2004. At the moment of transit, Venus is 
only some 26,000,000 miles from the earth, and its 
parallactic displacement is over two and a half times 
that of the sun. 

Illustrating Delisle's method after the manner of 
Young, Serviss, and others, let E in Fig. 3 represent 
the earth, A and B the stations of two observers on 
opposite sides of the earth, on or near the equator, 
and on a line roughly parallel to the planet's motion, 
and S the sun. The observer at A notes the instant 




Fig. 3. The Measurement of the Sun's Distance. 
(Dehsle's method.) 

at which Venus (then at V*) appears to touch the sun's 
edge, while the observer at B notes the instant when 
the planet is at V^ From the time occupied in passing 
from V^ to V'', and the known synodic period of the 
planet (584 days) , the size of the angle A C B may be 
calculated. And as the distance between A and B, the 
earth's diameter, is already known, it is easy to compute 
the length of other lines in the triangle, and hence the 
sun's distance from the earth. Up to within the last 
thirty years, most of the estimates for determining the 
sun's distance were based on transit of Venus observa- 
tions. Now, however, since other and more accurate 
methods have come into use, the transit has lost much 
of its former importance. 



Stellar Distances 249 

The best of the geometrical methods for measuring 
the solar parallax is probably that used by Gill in his 
observations of Mars, on Ascension Island in 1877, in 
which all the observations are made from a single 
station, by a single observer, when the planet is near its 
rising and its setting points. From the distance that 
the observer has been carried by the rotation of the 
earth on its axis (which can be easily calculated from 
the time that has elapsed between the observations), 
and the measured shift of the planet among the stars, 
the whole parallax may be readily computed, and 
thence the distance of the planet. 

Since the discovery of Eros by Witt of Berlin, in 
1898, one of the most important methods for deter- 
mining the sun's distance is based on observations of 
this tiny planetoid, which periodically approaches much 
nearer to the earth than any other body of the solar 
system, except the moon. In 1931, Eros will be most 
favourably situated for observation, as it will then 
approach to within some fifteen million miles of the 
earth, which is much nearer than Mars or Venus ever 
do. Knowing the distance of the planetoid, the dis- 
tance of the sun can be readily calculated, for by 
Kepler's third law (page 270) the relative distances of 
the different planets from the sun are proportional to 
their periods of revolution about the sun. The latest 
determination based on observations of Eros, at its 
opposition in the autumn and winter of 1 900-1 901, 
places the solar parallax at the value 8^.807, which 
corresponds to a distance of about 92,820,000 miles. 

And again, one of the most simple and striking of the 
several indirect methods makes use of the velocity of 
light, which has been determined with great precision 
by methods of measurement which will be found 



250 The Call of the Stars 

explained in special treatises in physics. By observing 
the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, it has been found that 
light takes about sixteen minutes, thirty-six seconds, to 
cross the terrestrial orbit, or eight minutes, eighteen 
seconds to reach the earth from the sun. Now, mul- 
tiplying the known velocity of light — 186,400 miles a 
second — by eight minutes, eighteen seconds, or 498 
seconds, gives approximately the sun*s distance. 

In calculating the distance of a star, its direction in 
the sky at epochs six months apart should be accurately 
observed, the distance between the points of observa- 
tion being the mean diameter of the earth's orbit. 
From the displacement measured at these intervals of 
time, which is twice the annual or heliocentric parallax, 
the star's distance may be computed. A paltry few 
out of the entire host of stars change their apparent 
positions when thus observed, but the changes are only 
slight, no star having been found that alters its position 
as much as one second. The great bulk of the stars are 
at such inconceivable distances that even the magnifi- 
cent base-line of 186,000,000 miles proves insufficient, in 
most cases, to produce any perceptible change in their 
direction. 

Within recent years the fashion has been to have the 
measurements for the determination of a star's distance 
made with the measuring machine, upon a photographic 
plate taken with a photographic telescope. When the 
distance can be gauged, the star should, if persistently 
watched, appear to oscillate in a yearly period, as the 
earth moves round the sun. On account of the im- 
mense distances of even the nearer stars, the oscillations 
are, however, almost immeasurably small. Knowing 
the range of the oscillation, the distance of the star is 
immediately deducible. 



Stellar Distances 25 1 

The first satisfactory measure of a star's parallax, 
namely that of 61 Cygni, was obtained by the Prus- 
sian astronomer Bessel, in 1838, by means of the 
Konigsberg heliometer. Since then the actual distances 
of some seventy odd stars have been counted, although 
approximately correct parallaxes have been secured for 
many more. From photographs made at an interval 
of seven or eight years on the same plate, Kapteyn and 
Weersma have, it is said, deduced the parallaxes and 
proper motions of over three thousand stars. The 
parallax of the visual binary, Alpha Centauri, the 
nearest known star, which is but 0.75 seconds of arc, 
and corresponds in round numbers to a distance of 
about twenty-six million million miles, is the largest yet 
ascertained, and was announced by Thomas Henderson, 
the great Scottish astronomer, while employed as 
the Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good Hope, 
in 1839. 

Spectrum Analysis and Celestial Photography 

When a narrow ray of sunlight passes through a 
triangular prism of glass or of any other transparent 
substance, it is not only refracted, that is, bent from its 
original course, but is also spread out lengthwise into a 
fan-shaped band of rainbow colours. Collected on a 
screen these primary or prismatic colours, seven in 
number, pass imperceptibly from violet, which is 
refracted the most, at the one extremity, through indigo, 
blue, green, yellow, and orange to red, which is refracted 
the least, at the other end (Fig. 4). Beyond the 
violet rays, which have the shortest wave-length, are a 
series of shorter waves called the ultra-violet (invisible), 
actinic, or chemical rays, and beyond the red rays, which 



252 



The Call of the Stars 



have the longest wave-length, are a series of longer 
waves, called the infra-red (invisible), or dark heat rays. 
This separation of white light into its various com- 
ponents is called dispersion, and the ribbon-like rain- 
bow-tinted band called a spectrum is, when produced 
by sunlight, known as the solar spectrum. 

Light from a candle flame, a star, a nebula, or other 




Screen 

Fig. 4. The Dispersion of Light by the Prism. 



luminous object, will produce a similar band or spectrum, 
but the appearance of the band, with regard to the 
preponderance of different colours, will depend upon 
the source and character of the light. By receiving the 
spectrum on a concave mirror, or by passing it through a 
convex lens, or through a second prism reversed, all the 
spectrum colours may be recombined, so as to form a 
single beam or band of white light. When a body 
absorbs all the colours of the spectrum except one, but 
reflects that colour to the eye, the body is said to be of 
that colour, be it blue, green, or other colour; if it re- 



spectrum Analysis 253 

fleets or gives back all the colours to the eye, it then 
appears white. 

As early as 1802, the celebrated English chemist and 
physicist, WoUaston, noticed that the solar spectrum is 
crossed by numerous dark lines, like narrow gaps, of 
various thicknesses, and at irregular distances from 
each other. Later in 18 14, these lines were carefully 
studied and mapped by Josef von Fraunhofer, an 
eminent optician of Munich, and are therefore called 
Fraunhofer' s lines. On a tombstone, erected to the 
memory of the scientist in a Munich graveyard, is this 
epitaph : " He brought the stars nearer to us. ' * 

The real meaning of Fraunhofer*s lines remained a 
mystery, until 1859, when a German physicist, Kirchhoff , 
discovered the secret (namely, that these dark lines 
indicate the presence of certain substances in the sun), 
and opened up a new and exact method of investiga- 
tion, since known as Spectrum Analysis — recently 
voted the sixth wonder of the modern world. 

Three principles were announced by Kirchhoff as 
underlying the theory of spectrum analysis: The first 
principle or law is, that a solid or a liquid body, or a 
gas under high pressure, gives, when incandescent, a 
plain or continuous spectrum — a coloured band of light 
devoid of lines. 

The second principle or law is, that incandescent gas 
under low pressure gives a discontinuous spectrum — 
a spectrum made up of bright-coloured lines on a dark 
background, the colour, position, and number of the 
lines being dependent on the nature and constituents of 
the gas. 

The third principle or law is, that if the Hght from a 
body giving a discontinuous spectrum has to pass 
through a layer of gas having a lower temperature, the 



254 The Call of the Stars 

gas will absorb rays of identical colour or wave-length 
with those composing its own bright-line spectrum, 
dark lines, or gaps — the Fraunhofer lines — replacing the 
characteristic bright lines in the spectrum of the gas 
itself. Spectra of this kind are styled absorption or 
dark-line spectra. 

The spectroscope, an instrument devised for the 
production and study of spectra, and which was first 
applied to astronomical observation about 1864, 
consists, as usually constructed, of three parts — a 
collimator, a dispersion piece (either prism or grating), 
and a view- telescope. The collimator or small tele- 
scope has a narrow adjustable slit, through which the 
ray of light enters, at one end, and a double convex 
lens so placed at the other end that the light will pass 
from the collimator in parallel lines. The prism, or 
diffraction grating, effects the dispersion necessary to 
produce a spectrum, and the small view-telescope is of 
use in examining the different regions of the spectrum. 
To the amateur a pocket spectroscope, such as Brown- 
ing's, is highly useful. 

The power of the spectroscope may be increased by 
adding to the number of the prisms, or in other words 
using a train of prisms. Not infrequently the prisms 
are replaced by ruled gratings, the spectrum given by 
which is called the normal spectrum^ because the amount 
of dispersion of the rays is proportional to their wave- 
lengths. The diffraction grating, invented by Rowland 
in 1883, consists of very fine parallel equidistant lines, 
from five thousand to twenty thousand to the inch, 
ruled on glass or on speculum metal. From such 
gratings spectra of wide dispersion are obtainable. 

For the study of that class of spectroscopic binaries, 
to which Mizar, the larger component of the well- 



Spectrum Analysis 255 

known double star in the tail of the Greater Bear, 
belongs, in which the lines of the spectrum periodically 
double and undouble themselves, the slitless or objec- 
tive-prism spectroscope has been found particularly 
effective. The spectroheliograph, a still further devel- 
opment of the spectroscope, devised by Hale in 1892 for 
the purpose of photographing the solar prominences, 
permits of photographs being taken of the sun with the 
light of one element at a time, and by its means a 
composite photograph of the entire solar surface can 
be built up. 

By means of the spectroscope the astronomer is 
enabled to determine, from certain shifting of the lines 
in the spectrum, the direction and rate of a star's 
radial motion, that is, its motion in the line of sight. If 
the lines are displaced toward the violet end of the 
spectrum, the star is approaching, and if toward the red 
end, it is receding, the rate of speed, which is propor- 
tional to the amount of displacement, being readily 
calculated by laws of optics. Then, too, the spectro- 
scope has given the means of studying many interesting 
features on the sun, and has shown, from their character- 
istic spectral lines, that forty or more of the elements 
known on earth are present in a gaseous or vaporous 
state in the sun. 

In addition, it has revealed that many of the terres- 
trial elements are present as glowing vapours in the 
gaseous envelopes of the distant stars, that the greenish, 
bright-line nebulae are masses of incandescent gases, 
and that throughout space, matter is essentially the 
same. With its help it has been possible to estimate the 
age of a star, to tell if it was young, or at full radiance, or 
past its prime, or perchance on its way to extinction. 
It has revealed that the inner parts of Saturn's rings 



256 The Call of the Stars 

rotate faster than the outer ones. Then, too, it has 
rendered it possible to recognise as double, certain stars 
— spectroscopic binaries — which even the most powerful 
telescopes have failed to separate. 

Within recent years the studies of the spectra of stars, 
nebulae, and other celestial objects have been made 
almost wholly by photography, the camera being ad- 
justed to the telescope, and the object photographed 
being examined and measured in detail at leisure. 
The photographic plate has rendered it possible to 
portray star-clouds and extensive nebulas, and to 
determine the positions of stars with an accuracy that 
would be otherwise unattainable. It has recorded the 
existence of numerous faint and far-off stars, which have 
never been seen by simple visual observations with 
even the largest telescopes. It has assisted in picking 
out the tiny planetoids, and in the discovery of the 
minute moons in the vicinity of Jupiter and Saturn. 
Then, too, on the photographic plate the whole moon has 
been pictiired with an accuracy far beyond anything 
possible by manual drawing. 

The first photograph, or rather daguerreotype, of a 
celestial object was one of the moon, secured by Dr. 
J. W. Draper of New York in 1840, while the first 
photograph of a star was that of Vega, taken at Har- 
vard College Observatory in 1850 under the direction 
of the elder Bond (William Cranch). The first photo- 
graph, or rather daguerreotype, of a solar eclipse was 
made in 1851 by Dr. Busch at Konigsberg, and the first 
photograph of a solar prominence was obtained by 
Young with the old wet-plate process, in 1870. In 
1872, Dr. Henry Draper, the son of Dr. J. W. Draper, 
secured the first photograph of the spectrum of a star, 
and in 1880, the first successful photograph of a nebula. 



Part II 
The Sun and the Planets 



^^ 257 



CHAPTER I 

THE PLANETESIMAL HYPOTHESIS, AND OTHERS 

That very law which moulds a tear 
And bids it trickle from its source, — 
That law preserves the earth a sphere, 
And guides the planets in their course. 

Samuel Rogers. 

To the unassisted eye the most beautiful and interest- 
ing objects in all the heavens are found among the 
radiant wandering bodies called planets (from the 
Greek word xXavi5TY)(; the wanderer) , which have a 
proper motion of their own among the stars. Held by- 
gravitational influence from travelling away into space, 
these bodies revolve substantially in one plane, at 
varying distances, and at varying rates, from west to 
east, in orbits of various degrees of eccentricity, around 
a great central globular mass, the Sun, the nearest of 
the stars. That limited portion of the universe, a little 
under fifty-six hundred million miles across, occupied 
by the Sun and its eight large planets with their twenty- 
six satellites, together with about eight hundred tiny 
planets, called planetoids or asteroids, and a whole 
number of cometary and meteoric bodies, so largely 
isolated from all the other systems of the universe, is 
known as the "local" Solar System. 

It is now thought probable that before there were any 
planets at all or any sun, there existed a comparatively 

259 



26o The Call of the Stars 

small, flat, rapidly rotating spiral nebula, out of which 
in the lapse of indefinite ages the solar system was 
evolved. According to the Chamberlin-Moulton the- 
ory, put forth in 1905 — the most satisfactory theory 
yet advanced in regard to the origin and development 
of the solar system, and known as the Planetesimal or 
Accretionary Hypothesis — the primal spiral nebula 
was formed, millions of years ago, by the grazing' 
collision or the near approach (within Roche's limit 
of about 2^ diameters) of a great, dark, solid body, an 
extinguished sun, with another body as it hurtled 
incognito through the icy regions of space. In the spin- 
ning nebulous mass formed as a result of the cata- 
clysmic shattering of the bodies, brought about by their 
terrific impact, or through their disruptive tidal influ- 
ence on each other, the matter, it is held, was very 
diffuse at the outer edge of the irregular spiral, and 
densest in the centre, while scattered here and there 
along and in the two fiery, coiled arms, projecting 
from diametrically opposite sides of the whirling 
figure, so noticeable in almost all spiral nebulae, knots 
or spots of condensation appeared. 

In the process of evolution, the denser globular 
centre became the controlling sun, the mighty ruler of 
the system, and the nebular knots or local condensa- 
tions on the arms of the spiral separated from the 
parent mass as the nuclei of the individual planets 
that were to be. These planet nuclei continued to 
revolve about the original centre, and in proportion 
to their mass gathered in by gravitative attraction 
more or less of the scattered material — wandering 

» It is held by Bickerton and others that the collision could not be 
other than a grazing collision, as, under the laws of attraction, such 
bodies can never meet centre to centre. 



The Planetesimal Hypothesis 261 

planetesimals or fragments — that chanced to pass near 
their orbits. Such condensations of matter on the 
arms of the spiral as happened to be of good size at 
the time of separation from the parent mass, gathered 
up large quantities of the small and slow-moving 
particles of ejected matter which the region afforded, 
and thus developed by aggregation into large planets. 
Nuclei located near the outer edge of the spiral, and 
which formed the outer or the major planets, were 
composed of the lighter material of the nebula, while 
such as were nearer the centre, and formed the inner 
or the terrestrial planets, were composed of the denser 
material. 

In some instances, the planet nuclei at the time of 
separation from the parent body picked up and carried 
away with them, to become their satellites, such of the 
smaller condensations of the widely distributed matter 
— secondary nuclei — as were swift of motion and were 
far enough away from the original centre to remain 
under their gravitational control. And again, shape- 
less fragments of matter destined to form tiny worlds, 
called planetoids or asteroids, whirled in irregular 
orbits, in the vast space between the two widely 
different groups of planets — the inner and the outer — 
where, by gravitative influence of one of the larger 
planets (Jupiter), condensation was disturbed, and no 
large body was allowed to form. Whilst left-over bits 
of matter — the "last ungathered remains" of the 
primal nebula — perchance, formed those small celestial 
objects called comets and shooting stars, which journey 
in orbits of every degree of eccentricity, and are part 
and parcel of the solar system. 

In a recent book on The Evolution of Worlds^ by 
Percival Lowell, it is suggested that. 



262 The Call of the Stars 

What brought about the beginning of the system may 
also [in default of other causes] compass its end. If one 
random encounter took place in the past, a second is as 
likely to occur in the future. Another celestial body may 
any day run into the Sun, and it is to a dark body that 
one must look for such destruction, because they are so 
much more numerous in space. That any of the lucent 
stars could collide with the Sun is demonstrably impossible 
for aeons of years. But this is far from the case with a 
dark star. 

Judged [however] by any scale of time we know the 
chance of such catastrophe is immeasurably remote. Not 
only may each one rest content in the thought that he 
will die from causes of his own choosing or neglect, but the 
Earth itself will cease to be a possible abode of life, and 
even the Sun will have become cold and dark and dead so 
long before that day arrives that when the final shock shall 
come, it will be quite ready [for another awakening into 
activity]. 

The hypothesis of ring formation, put forward by 
Pierre Simon, Marquis de Laplace, the eminent French 
astronomer, in his famous Exposition du Systeme du 
Monde, in 1796, to account for the birth of the solar 
system, plausible as it appears, and which was for- 
merly accepted in its entirety, is found not to ac- 
count for many present-day details of the system. 
This now celebrated Laplacian hypothesis began by 
assuming a rotating, lens-shaped, intensely heated 
nebulous mass, that slowly contracted as its heat radi- 
ated into space, and threw off rings of fiery vapour 
which broke up and condensed into separate globular 
masses, destined to form the planets. These planet 
balls revolved around the central condensation, which 
was ultimately to form the Sun, in the same general 
direction as the ring had revolved, and in turn con- 



The Capture Theory 263 

tracted, some throwing off rings of matter which later, 
it was thought, broke up and condensed to form attend- 
ant satelHtes. 

Tennyson, in The Princess, Part Second, thus alludes 
to this beautifully simple, but somewhat discredited 
theory of the order and way in which the solar system 
developed into its present complex state : 

This world was once a fluid haze of light, 
Till toward the centre set the starry tides, 
And eddied into suns, that wheeling cast 
The planets. 

In this connection it may be noticed that an interest- 
ing theory of cosmical evolution has recently (1909) 
been advanced by T. J. J. See and others, termed the 
Capture Theory, between which and the accretion 
theories of Chamberlin and Moulton there seems to 
be much in common. In a general way it assumes that 
the order of the universe is the incessant expulsion of 
tiny particles of dust from the stars by radiant energy, 
into space, there to collect into cosmical clouds or 
nebulae, with the drifting together and condensation 
of nebulas into stars and stellar systems, as gravita- 
tion reasserts its force — the world-process being, as one 
of its advocates has said, "an eternal cycle of centralisa- 
tion and dispersion." 

According to this theory the spiral nebulas out of 
which stars and systems are evolving are formed by the 
close approach of two nebulous streams, and their 
curling together in the exercise of mutual gravitation, 
or by the curling up of a single nebulous stream by 
reason of its own gravitation. By concentration of the 
knots or condensations of nebulous material within the 
spirals thus formed, sun-centres are supposed to be 



264 The Call of the Stars 

produced. It is also supposed that these suns by their 
capture of neighbouring knots or condensations develop 
systems of planets, while the planets in turn capture 
systems of satellites. Or again, the suns may draw 
together into binaries, triple or quadruple star-systems, 
or into magnificent star-clusters. 

Such are the hypotheses in regard to the origin and 
development of the solar system, and they remain 
hypotheses which are by no means eternal. 



CHAPTER II 

THE LOCAL SOLAR SYSTEM (A SytlOpsis) 

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to 
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons 
and for days and years. 

Genesis i.,-14. 

The most important of all the celestial bodies, so 
far as the inhabitants of the earth are concerned, is 
the Sim (Plate XX.), the giver of light and heat and 
energy, and to whose beneficent rays highly organised 
life here owes its existence and its perpetual propaga- 
tion. This mighty orb, which is roughly estimated as 
over seven hundred times larger than all the planets 
and satellites of the system put together, and was 
called by the late Schiaparelli the **most magnificent 
work of the Almighty," is about 864,750 miles in 
diameter, and some 92,820,000 miles distant from the 
Earth. 

It is so large that were it hollowed out like an im- 
mense rubber ball, and the Earth placed at its centre, 
the Moon could revolve at its present average distance 
of about 239,000 miles, and there would still be room 
for another satellite to circle in an orbit over 190,000 
miles exterior to the Moon's orbit. And again, so far 
off is it, that a railway train, which, travelling night and 
day at the uniform rate of sixty miles an hour, could 

265 



266 



The Call of the Stars 



make a circuit of the Earth in seventeen days, and a 
journey to the Moon in 5>^ months, would take 176 
years to reach the Sun, and about 5J years to travel 
round it. Then, too, this same train, travelling at its 
sixty-miles-an-hour rate, would take over 5300 years to 




Fig. 5. The Orbits of the Terrestrial Planets. 

make the trip to the orbit of Neptune, the present 
known boundary of the local solar system. 

The planets, which may be divided into two principal 
classes — the inner or terrestrial, and the outer or major 
— are dark opaque bodies that are illuminated by the 
Sun as they circle round it, their relative distances from 
which have generally a rough kind of order that fol- 
lows what is known as Bode's Law. They are believed 
to have been evolved, as mentioned in the previous 
chapter, from various nuclei which existed in the 



The Local Solar System 267 

original spiral, and are all of the same age. The inner 
or terrestrial planets (Fig. 5) were evolved from small 
nuclei, and are all of them relatively small in size, and 
rather dense in structure. They are also comparatively 
near together, travel at higher speed, and have few or 




Fig. 6. The Orbits of the Major Planets. 

no satellites. The outer or major planets (Fig. 6), on 
the other hand, were evolved from great nuclei and are 
huge, rather vapotuy bodies, not quite so advanced in 
their planetary history. They are enormously distant 
from one another, travel more leisurely, and have, as a 
rule, imposing retinues of attendants. 

The planets that are nearer the Sun than the Earth is 
are sometimes called inferior planets, and those which 
are farther from the Sun, superior planets. Planets 



268 The Call of the Stars 

whose orbits lie between the Earth and the Sun have 
very different phases and apparent motions from those 
whose orbits He beyond the Earth from the Sun. 
When an inferior planet lies between the Sun and the 
Earth, and nearly in line with them, it is in inferior 
conjunction, and when on the far side of the Sun, it 
is in superior conjunction. It is at greatest eastern 
elongation when at its greatest apparent distance east 
of the Sun, and at greatest western elongation when 
at its greatest apparent distance west of it. When 
it is west of the Sun, it rises earlier than the Sun, and 
is a morning star, and when east of the Sun, it sets later 
than the Sun, and is an evening star. 

A superior planet is in conjunction when on the far 
side of the Sun, and is then at its greatest distance from 
the Earth. It is in opposition when it is nearest, that is, 
when it is behind the Earth and in line with it and the 
Sun. ' All the planets, when nearest the Earth, appear 
for a relatively brief time to move slowly backward. 
Then, too, a planet usually describes more or less of a 
loop or flourish, as it thus seems to pass back and forth 
among the stars. This apparent retrograde motion, in 
a superior planet, occurs when the Earth is overtaking 
and passing it, and in an inferior planet, when it is 
overtaking and passing the Earth. 

When viewed through the telescope, planets appear 
as round globes, like little worlds in fact, differing in 
this respect from stars, which seem to be only points of 
light. They have no light of their own, as the stars 
have, but their measurable disks reflect the sunlight, 
and their light is far steadier than that of the stars. They 
follow a general track or path called the zodiac, so 
that each planet is always somewhere in the zodiac, 
and is said to be in the constellation that forms its 



The Local Solar System 269 

apparent background. Such as can be seen with the 
naked eye are most of the time much brighter than any 
first-magnitude star. Occasionally Uranus can be seen 
with the naked eye, as a star of the sixth magnitude, 
while Neptune, which is about as bright as an eighth- 
magnitude star, can be seen only with the aid of a good 
field-glass, or a telescope. It will be found that by 
looking up their positions with the aid of the American 
Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac, published annually 
by the United States Government, they may be the 
more readily recognised. 

All the planets, and all the satellites that belong to 
them, revolve in their orbits round the Sun, in the 
opposite direction to the hands of a clock, and they all 
— except Uranus and Neptune and their satellites, and 
the eighth and ninth satellites of Jupiter and the ninth 
of Saturn, which rotate in a "retrograde" or backward 
direction — rotate on their axes in the same "counter- 
clockwise" way. And further, all the satellites of the 
planets, so far as is definitely known, turn the same 
face always to their primary, just as the Moon does to 
the Earth. Then, too, a time will come, though far 
remote, when, like Mercury and Venus, each of the six 
remaining planets will turn an unchanging face to the 
Sun, the father of them all. 

The motions of the planets in their orbits take place 
in accordance with three very important laws, dis- 
covered by the famous German astronomer, Johann 
Kepler, and therefore called Kepler's Laws. 

The first law (announced in 1609) is, that the orbits 
of the planets are ellipses, having the Sun in one of the 
foci. 

The second law is, that the radius vector of a planet 
— that is, an imaginary line joining the planet to the Sun 



270 The Call of the Stars 

■ — ^passes over equal areas of space in equal periods of 
time. 

The third law (published in 1619) is, that the squares 
of the periods or times of revolution of the different 
planets about the Sun are proportional to the cubes of 
their mean distances from the Sun. By way of illustra- 
tion, suppose the period or time of revolution of one 
planet is eight times as long as that of another planet, 
then by Kepler^s law the mean distance of the first 
planet from the Sun will be four times that of the 
second planet. This number is reached by taking the 
square of eight and then extracting the cube root, 
which is four. Knowing, therefore, the distance of the 
first planet, that of the second planet may be readily 
found, by simply dividing the distance of the first 
planet by four. This third law is known as Kepler's 
*' harmonic law." 

Newton interpreted these laws of planetary motion 
and showed with certain limitations, that they are the 
direct consequences of one fundamental law of nature, 
the Law of Universal Gravitation. This empirical law 
(announced in 1687) is, that all bodies in space attract 
one another with a force directly proportional to the 
product of their masses, and inversely proportional to 
the square of their distances apart. 

The inner or terrestrial planets consist of four worlds, 
namely. Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars. As far 
as is known, Mercury, the "Sparkling One," is the near- 
est to the Sun of all the planets. Its period of rotation 
and of revolution are the same, so that it always keeps 
the same side toward the Sun, and has no alternation of 
day and night. The eccentricity of its orbit is greater 
than that of any of the principal planets, so that at times 
it is half as far off again from the Sun as at others. As 



The Local Solar System 271 

its orbit is inside that of the Earth, Mercury is visible 
only either in the evening or in the morning sky. It 
is never seen very far above the horizon, and owing to 
its proximity to the Sun — being never more than about 
28° from it — is difficult to observe with the naked eye. 
Nevertheless, if the observer knows where to look, it is 
easy to pick up the elusive little planet, before it sinks 
below the horizon, especially with the aid of an opera- 
glass. It is said that the celebrated astronomer Co- 
pernicus lamented in his last moments (May, 1543) 
that he had never been able to see it. Gassendi attrib- 
utes the failure to the mist and vapour so very preva- 
lent along the banks of the Vistula, where Copernicus 
lived. 

The next planet in order outward from the Sun is 
Venus, the "Beautiftd," the most radiant of all the 
planets, outshining heaven's host. It is remarkably 
like the Earth in size, so much so as to be called its 
"twin-sister, " and is in about the same stage of planet- 
ary life. Like little Mercury, it turns on its axis in the 
same time that it revolves round the sun, and in con- 
sequence it turns always the same face to him, and has 
no alternation of day and night. Its orbit, in contrast 
with that of Mercury, is remarkable for the smallness 
of its eccentricity. Being nearer than the Earth to the 
Sun, Venus, like Merctu-y is visible only either in the 
evening or in the morning sky, 

and is never much more than ^^ ""^y 

45° from the sun. Then, too, ^ P V I J 
like Mercury, it exhibits ^/ja^e^ -^ ^^^ 

(Fig. 7), invisible to the naked ^^^ ^ ^^^ ^.^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ 
eye, which recall those of the of Venus. 

Moon. Its light is of a daz- 
zling whiteness, while that of Mercury is slightly reddish. 



272 The Call of the Stars 

So intense is its brilliancy at the time of its greatest 
brightness (Plate XXVIII.), that its light often casts 
a shadow, and, not infrequently, it may be seen with 
the naked eye in broad daylight. In The Telescope^ The 
Honorable Mrs. Ward writes: 

Late in the evening of January 24, 1854, when both the 
sun and moon were sufficiently out of the way, the planet 
Venus being in its position of greatest brilliancy shone with 
a remarkable lustre. We observed it in a room with a single 
window, every sash of which was imaged on the ground, as 
it would have been in moonlight, and even the slight waves 
and concentric lines on the panes could be clearly traced. 

The next planet outward is the Earth, which shines 
by reflecting the light received from the Sun, as all its 
planetary neighbours do, and which from the nearer 
planets must appear as a brilliant star, as it revolves 
in its slightly elliptical orbit. It occupies a most unique 
position in the universe, for not only is it the abode of 
man, but it is the only world of which human beings 
have any direct knowledge. It is a remarkably smooth 
globe, and departs but slightly from the spherical form, 
being flattened at the poles only about twenty-seven 
miles. This flattening, however, as Bayne says in his 
Pith of Astronomy, "leads to the truthful but paradoxi- 
cal statement, that the Mississippi River runs up hill, 
as its mouth is three miles farther from the centre of the 
earth than is its source." It is attended by one faithful 
satellite, the "moon divine" of Southey. 

Passing outwards, the next planet is Mars, the "Red 
Planet " (Plate XXXIV.), one of the most interesting ob- 
jects in the heavens, which in its days and seasons 
closely resembles the Earth. From its many points of 
resemblance to the latter planet, some astronomers are 



The Local Solar System 273 

inclined to believe that Mars may be a habitable world. 
Being only a little over half as large as the Earth, it has 
run more swiftly through the stages of its evolution, so 
that planetary old age has already set in. Its average 
temperature is commonly believed to be much lower 
than that of the earth, and probably below the freezing- 
point of water. Its orbit is more eccentric than that of 
any other of the principal planets except Mercury, and 
it marks the limit of the inner or the terrestrial group of 
planets. Seen with the naked eye, as a bright red star 
shining with a steady light, it expands under telescopic 
power into a broad disk of a fiery orange colour, with 
spots and markings upon it of a dark greenish-grey or 
bluish-grey tone, and an all-embracing network of ill- 
defined blue-green streaks termed "canali" or channels 
(Plate XXXV.). At the poles it is capped with bright 
white rounded spots, supposed to be snow, the so-called 
** polar caps." Oliver Wendell Holmes thus poetically 
writes: 

The snows that glittered on the disk of Mars 
Have melted, but the planet's fiery orb 
Rolls in the crimson summer of its year. 

Mars is never very brilliant except when it is in 
opposition — that is, when it is on the same side of the 
Sun as is the Earth, and nearly in line with them — 
which happens once in about seven hundred and eighty 
days. Its next opposition will occur in January, 1914, 
from which time it will be visible in the evening, until 
the following autumn. It has two small satellites, 
named Deimos and Phobos, which are remarkable for 
the extraordinary rapidity of their motions. In his 
satire, Gulliver's Travels ^ published in 1726, Dean 
18 



274 The Call of the Stars 

Jonathan Swift makes his hero tell about the astrono- 
mers on the Flying Island of Laputa being so very 
clever that they had discovered two moons circling 
round Mars, one of which went round the ruddy planet 
in ten hours. This was considered a most wild fancy, as 
no moon known then, revolved roimd its primary in a 
shorter time than the latter took to turn on its axis. 
But in 1877, a century and a half later, Asaph Hall at 
the Naval Observatory, Washington, found that Mars 
had two moons, and that one of them (Phobos), a 
rather gay little satellite, revolves even faster than 
Mr. Lemuel Gulliver of Wapping said, taking only 
seven hours and thirty-nine minutes to complete its 
orbit. 

Beyond the orbit of Mars stretches a vast space, in 
which circulate an all but innumerable host of very tiny 
worlds called planetoids or asteroids. Their orbits are 
more eccentric than those of any of the principal 
planets, and the periods of revolution vary from about 
two to twelve years. Up to the present time about 
eight himdred of them have been listed, and new ones 
are being found every year, principally by means of the 
photographic plate. The biggest of them, Ceres, is less 
than five hundred miles in diameter, and many of them 
are not more than ten or twenty miles. All of them are 
invisible to the naked eye, with the exception of Vesta, 
which though not much more than two hundred miles 
in diameter, happens to be the brightest, and under 
favourable conditions can sometimes be seen without 
optical aid. One of the most erratic of these tiny bodies, 
named Eros, has a large portion of its orbit within that 
of Mars, and comes at times nearer the Earth than any 
other celestial body except the Moon or an occasional 
comet. It has been estimated that the total mass of 



The Local Solar System 275 

the whole planetoid group is less than one-quarter that 
of the Earth. 

'■ Outside the zone of the planetoids, which forms the 
dividing-line between the inner and outer quartette 
of planets, rolls the mammoth planet Jupiter (Plate 
XXXVI.), the greatest and most magnificent member of 
the Sun's family of worlds. It is over thirteen hundred 
times as big as the Earth, and is larger than all the 
other planets put together. So big is it that even in a 
small telescope it looks as large as the full moon looks 
to the unaided eye. Its great size having tended to 
keep it young, it is probably still a semi-sun, though 
not so much of a one as to shine by its own light. And 
yet there are reasons for believing that its surface is not 
altogether dark, and that it may, at least, have a dull- 
red glow. That it shines by reflected sunlight is 
evidenced, however, by the fact that its own moons 
receive no perceptible light from it. 

Its light has a yellowish- white tint, and is remarkably 
steady. Near the time of opposition, which occurs at 
intervals of three hundred and ninety-nine days, it may 
be easily recognised in the evening sky, when it is, next 
to Venus, the brightest star-like object in the heavens. 
It will be in opposition early in August, 191 4, in Capri- 
cornus, and will be a brilliant and commanding object 
in the summer sky. 

No planet, it is said, presents such a fine opportunity 
for colour-study as does Jupiter. When viewed with a 
good telescope, its broad bright disk appears covered 
with belts and spots of various colours and varying 
shapes. On each side of the equator are two very dis- 
tinct, cherry-red belts, called the tropical belts. Then 
too, traversing all of the bright belts, wisps or lacings 
may be detected, and just below the southern tropical 



276 The Call of the Stars 

belt is the celebrated Great Red Spot, which has been 
more or less visible since the summer of 1878. So far 
as is known, Jupiter is attended by nine satellites, four 
large and five small, the four larger ones being among 
the easiest objects for a small telescope. Its fifth, a 
very small satellite, is notable as moving faster than any 
other satellite in the solar system. In addition, Jupiter 
has an adopted "Comet family" of some thirty- two 
comets, made prisoners to the Sun, by its disturbing 
influence. Its period of rotation is shorter than that of 
any other planetary body, being on the average about 
nine hours and fifty-five minutes. 

The sixth of the planets in the order of distance from 
the Sun is Saturn (Plate XXXVII.) , the show mem- 
ber of the Sun's planet family. It is the second largest 
planet in the solar system, its diameter, roughly speak- 
ing, being about one-fifth less than that of the planet 
Jupiter. It is a spheroidal globe and is more flattened 
out at the poles and bulged out at the equator than 
any other planet. In proportion to its size, it is the 
lightest of any of the planets, its density being so small 
that it is actually lighter than water. It is almost twice 
as far from the sun as is Jupiter, and is, in all probability, 
at an earlier stage of evolution. To the unaided eye it 
appears as a dull, red-yellow star of about the first 
magnitude. When seen through a good telescope it is, 
perhaps, the most wonderful and beautiful object in all 
the sky. It has been beautifully alluded to as the Te 
Deum of the heavens — an oratorio of the night — and 
yet with all its grandeur it is a far less noble creation of 
God than is a human soul. It is surrounded by cloud- 
belts, similar to those which encircle its giant neighbour, 
but its colouring is not nearly so bright or so varied. 

Saturn's most unique feature is its magnificent sys- 



The Local Solar System 277 

tern of rings, surrounding it above the equator. The 
entire diameter of the ring formation is rather more 
than 172,000 miles, the breadth about 38,000 miles, 
and the thickness about eighty miles. The rings are 
supposed to consist of innumerable meteoric particles, 
each circling in its own individual orbit, but all keeping 
so close together that they appear like three solid 
concentric rings, whirling continually around the planet. 
They are so thin, that this page is probably thicker 
compared to its breadth, than they are compared to 
theirs. They are wholly unlike anything to be seen 
elsewhere in the heavens, and are known respectively 
as Ring A, the outermost one; Ring B, the middle one; 
and Ring C, the crepe or gauze ring, nearest to the 
body of the planet. They are brightest and most open 
when the planet is in either the constellation Scorpio or 
the constellation Taurus. Saturn is now (January, 
1 914) in opposition in the easterly part of Taurus. It 
will be at its brightest about the third week in Decem- 
ber, 1 9 14, when in opposition near the border line 
between Taurus and Gemini, at which time the south- 
ern side of the wide-open rings may be seen. 

Outside the rings, Saturn has no fewer than ten moons 
circling round it in ceaseless revolution. One of them, 
called Titan, is a bright and big moon about the size of 
the planet Mercury, and is quite a little world in itself. 
The vastness of Saturn's realm will be at once apparent 
when it is known that the distance from the planet to its 
outermost moon is nearly eight million miles. A prism 
binocular field-glass will disclose the rings, but the belts 
and moons require a more powerful instrument, while 
some of the latter are almost at the limit of visibility. 

Beyond beautiful Saturn is Uranus, the seventh 
planet from the Sun, and fourth in order of size. It is 



278 The Call of the Stars 

considered to be the smallest of the major planets, its 
diameter being calculated as but little more than four 
times that of the Earth, although some measurements, 
including that by Barnard, place it above Neptune in 
point of size. It is a largely vaporous and much ex- 
panded body, and has a density only one-fifth greater 
than that of water. On account of its distance from the 
Sun, which is about twice that of Saturn, and nineteen 
times that of the Earth, it receives but little solar heat 
and light. When near opposition it may be seen with 
the naked eye as a star of about the sixth magnitude, 
and yet few observers can see it without optical aid. 

In a good telescope it appears as a very beautiful, 
pale, greenish-blue planet, and under favourable con- 
ditions faint markings may be seen traversing its neat 
round disk. A remarkable thing about Uranus is that 
it is enveloped in a dense atmosphere of enormous 
extent. It rotates in a "retrograde" or backward 
direction, but it revolves in the direction pursued by 
all the other planets — that is, "counter-clockwise." It 
rotates like a top rolling on its side, and in that position 
revolves round its orbit on its great annual journey of 
about eighty-four terrestrial years. It is attended by 
four faint satellites, which revolve around it at about 
its equator, in a retrograde or backward direction, in 
orbits nearly perpendicular to its own orbit. It was 
named after the god whom the Greeks believed to be 
the father of Saturn. 

Uranus remains in each constellation somewhere near 
seven years, travelling a little more than four degrees a 
year. It is now (January, 1914) in Capricomus, 
about twenty-four degrees east of the Milk Dipper in 
Sagittarius. It was in opposition in 191 3 on July 
29th, and will be in opposition in 19 14 on August 4th. 



The Local Solar System 279 

Farther afield, on the frontier of the solar system, 
some twenty-seven hundred milHon miles away/ is 
lonely Neptune, draggling along its nearly circular 
orbit at the comparatively leisurely pace of three and 
two-fifths miles a second. It is the eighth and, so far 
as is known, the most distant member of the Sun's 
family of worlds. It is commonly ranked the third 
largest of all the planets, although some measurements 
make Uranus the larger of the two. Like Uranus, it is 
enveloped in a large and dense atmosphere, and it is 
celebrated for having been discovered by means of 
computations based on its disturbing attraction on that 
planet. It was located in Aquarius by a young astrono- 
mer, John C. Adams, of England, and a young mathe- 
matician, Urbain LeVerrier, of France, and at the 
latter's request Galle, at the Berlin Observatory, 
searched for and found it less than one degree from the 
spot indicated, on September 23, 1846. At first it was 
called LeVerrier but was later, at the suggestion of 
LeVerrier, more fittingly named after Neptune. 

It shines as brightly as an eighth-magnitude star, 
and, though invisible to the naked eye, can be seen with 
a good prism binocular field-glass. In a large instru- 
ment it exhibits a small, weakly-illuminated, bluish or 
leaden- tinted disk, on which no definite markings have 
as yet been seen. Its axis is even more tilted over than 
that of Uranus, and it rotates in this extraordinary 
position in a "retrograde" manner, but performs its 
orbital revolution ''direct," as all the other planets do. 
As far as is known, only one single, nameless, satellite 
(Plate XL.) adorns the skies of Neptune. Like 
Rudyard Kipling's cat, it "walks by itself. " It is about 

^ Vast as this distance may seem, the very nearest of the stars proper 
— ^Alpha Centauri — is over nine thousand times more distant. 



28o The Call of the Stars 

as bright as a fourteenth-magnitude star, and has, like 
the Uranian moons, a "retrograde" motion. It was 
discovered by Lassell on October lo, 1846. Neptune 
is now (191 4) in the constellation Gemini, south of and 
not far from Castor and Pollux. It remains on an 
average about thirteen years in each constellation. 

For some time the existence of an extra-Neptunian 
planet has been strongly suspected, from indications of 
its influence on the motions of certain comets, as also 
on the movements of Neptune. But the numerous 
photographic as well as telescopic searches hitherto 
made for it, have been without success. Quite recently, 
however, the orbit of a remote hypothetical planet has 
been again calculated, and its position announced as 
certain. Possibly it may later be detected, if such a 
planet exists, as seems most likely. Its calculated dis- 
tance from the Sun is rather more than nine thousand 
million miles, or over three times Neptune's distance. 

Besides the planets and their moons, but totally un- 
like them, are those most interesting celestial objects 
called comets and meteors — the most erratic members 
of the solar family circle. Scattered, as they are, in 
unknown millions, throughout the system, these strange 
and mysterious, yet harmless, things are, as they speed 
across the sky, only visible for the brief period they are 
in the vicinity of the Sun and the Earth. 

No more unique and apt illustration of the relative 
sizes, distances, and motions, in the local solar system 
has been devised than that suggested long ago by Sir 
John Herschel, in his Outlines of Astronomy: On a wide 
level field or common, place an ordinary library globe, 
two feet in diameter, to represent the Sun. At a distance 
of 82 feet from it put a mustard seed, to repre- 
sent Mercury; a pea at a distance of 142 feet, for Venus; 



The Local Solar System 281 

another pea at a distance of 215 feet, for the Earth; 
and a rather large pin's head at a distance of 327 feet, 
for Mars; and minute grains of sand at distances 
varying from 500 to 600 feet, to represent most of 
the planetoids. Place a fair-sized orange at a distance 
of nearly a quarter of a mile to represent Jupiter; 
a small orange at a distance of two-fifths of a mile 
for Saturn ; a large cherry at a distance of three-fourths 
of a mile for Uranus; and lastly a fair-sized plum at a 
distance of a mile and a quarter to represent Neptune. 

According to this scale the daily motion of Mercury 
in its orbit would be thirty-six inches; that of Venus, 
twenty-four inches; that of the Earth, twenty-two 
inches; that of Mars, eighteen inches; that of Jupiter, 
ten and a half inches; that of Saturn, seven and a half 
inches; that of Uranus, five inches; and that of Neptune, 
four inches. On the same scale the Moon would be 
represented by a smaller seed than Mercury, moving 
in a circle at a distance of six and two-thirds inches from 
the pea which represents the Earth, with a daily motion 
of about two- thirds of an inch, and the nearest star 
would be located on the opposite side of the earth, 
several thousand miles away. 

In the Academy of Sciences, Lincoln Park, Chicago, 
is a rotating Celestial Sphere, fifteen feet in diameter^ 
in which are represented the brighter stars of the differ- 
ent constellations that are visible from the latitude of 
Chicago. In addition to the stars, the Sun and Moon 
are represented, as also are the planets Venus, Mars, 
Jupiter, and Saturn. The sphere is constructed of light 
galvanised sheet-iron, and is provided with an observer's 
stationary platform, and a circular horizon table. It 
was invented by Wallace W. Atwood, and was pre- 
sented to the Academy by La Verne W. Noyes. 



282 The Call of the Stars 

Table of Solar and Planetary Statistics 



Names 


Sun 


Mer- 
cury 


Venus 


Earth 


Mars 


Average distance 
from the Sun, in 
millions of miles 




36 


67.2 


92.8 


141.5 


Period of revolu- 
tion round the 
Sun 




87.97 
days 


224.7 

days 


365-25 

days 


I year and 
321.65 
days 


Mean diameter in 
miles 


864,750 


3400 


7630 


7918 


4230 


Mean speed of 
revolution per 
second 




miles 


21 

miles 


18 
miles 


\5 

miles 


Average period of 
rotation 


25 days 

7 hrs. 

48 min. 


Equals 
time of 
revolu- 
tion 


Equals 
time of 
revolu- 
tion 


23 hrs. 
56 min. 
4 sec. 


24 hrs. 
37 min. ■. 
22.65 sec. 


Mean density in 
proportion to 
the Earth 


0.25 


0.85 


0.89 


1. 00 

(5.5 
com- 
pared 
with that 
of water) 


0.71 


Surface gravity. 
Fall in feet per 
second 


442.4 


6.9 


13.7 


16.I 


6.1 


Number of satel- 
lites 










I 


2 



The Local Solar System 283 

Table of Planetary Statistics {Continued) 



Names 


Planetoids 


Jupiter 


Saturn 


Uranus 


Neptune 


Average distance 
from the Sun in 
millions of miles 


1355 

to 
488 


483 


886 


1782 


2791-5 


Period of revolu- 
tion round the 
Sun 


1.76 to 
1 2. 1 years 


11.86 

years 


29.46 

years 


84.02 

years 


164.78 

years 


Mean diameter in 
miles 


10 to 477 


87,380 


73,120 


31,900 


34»8oo 


Mean speed of 
revolution per 
second 


8 to 15.5 
miles 


8.1 

miles 


6 

miles 


miles 


3-4 

miles 


Average period of 
rotation 




9 hrs. 
55 min. 


10 hrs. 
I4min. 


12 hrs. 


? 


Mean density in 
proportion to 
the Earth 




0.24 


0.13 


0.22 


0.20 


Surface gravity. 
Fall in feet per 
second 




42.6 


18.9 


14.4 


H-3 


Number of satel- 
lites 




9 


10 


4 


I 



Mean distance of 
the Moon from 
the Earth 



238,840 miles 



Period of revo- 
lution of the 
Moon round 
the Earth 



27 days, 7 hrs. 
43 min. 1 1. 15 
sec. 



Mean di- 
ameter of 
the Moon 
in miles 



2163 



Period of 

rotation 

of the 

Moon 



Equals 
time of 
revolu- 
tion 



Mean den- 
sity of the 
Moon in pro- 
portion to 
the Earth 



0.61 



CHAPTER III 

THE SUN 

The disk of Phoebus, when he climbs on high, 

Appears at first but as a blood -shot eye, 

And when his chariot downwards driven to bed, 

His ball is with the same suffusion red; 

But mounted high on his meridian race, 

All bright he shines and with a better face. 

Ovid (Dryden's tr.) 

The mighty orb of the Sun — the lantern of the world 
(lucerna Mundi), as Copernicus called it — is, as noted 
in a previous chapter, the centre around which the 
little family of worlds which constitute the local solar 
system travel. It is a hot, self-luminous, yellowish- 
white, whirling globe, composed of gases and metallic 
vapours, powerfully compressed by its strong self- 
gravity (Plate XX.) . It appears to be rather more than 
half a degree in diameter, and seems a trifle larger 
(nearly two per cent.) in winter than in summer, the 
Earth then, being about 3^ million miles nearer to it. 
It rotates on an axis inclined about 7J° from a per- 
pendicular to the plane of the ecliptic, in the same direc- 
tion as do the planets, making a rotation in about 251 
days. Not being a solid body, the different parts of its 
surface rotate at different rates, the velocity being 
greater at the equator than toward the poles. Hence, 
while the period of rotation at the equator is about 

284 




Yerkes Observatory 



Plate XX. The Solar Disk 

(Showing calcium flocculi) 



The Sun 285 

twenty-five days, it is approximately twenty-seven days 
at midway between the equator and the poles. Besides, 
the sun has a motion in space, since, at a velocity of 
thirteen miles a second, it is carrying the whole 
solar system in the direction represented by the "apex 
of the Sun's way," a point in the sky fairly near the star 
Delta in Lyra. And again, the motion of the Earth 
around the Sun causes it apparently to move eastward 
among the stars 30° every month in the year. 

The surface temperature of the Sun has been roughly 
estimated at about 15,000° Fahrenheit, which is several 
thousand degrees above that obtainable in the most 
powerful electric furnace, and its light, which reaches 
the earth in eight minutes, at about one hundred and 
forty-six times that of a calcium light, and three and 
two-fifths times that of the intensely brilliant " crater'* 
of the electric arc. In addition, observations show 
that the radiant energy received from the Sun on every 
square yard exposed perpendicularly to its rays is 
equivalent to about three horse-power — a horse-power 
being the unit of work that will raise thirty-three 
thousand pounds one foot high in a minute. 

What becomes of nearly all of the light and heat sent 
out by the Sun is not known, as, if it is radiated equally 
in all directions, the Earth intercepts only about the 
one twenty-two-hundred-millionth part of it, and all 
the planets together not more than one-hundred-mil- 
lionth part. As compared with the Earth, the Sun 
has 332,000 times as much mass or quantity of matter, 
and exceeds it in bulk about 1,300,000 times. 

At the Sun's surface, the force of gravity is rather 
more than twenty-seven times that at the surface of 
the Earth. Hence a man who on the Earth weighs 
150 lbs. would, if transported to the Sun, weigh nearly 



286 The Call of the Stars 

two tons. On the "giant planet" Jupiter, he would 
weigh about 400 lbs., and on Mars the "fiery planet,'* 
not quite 60 lbs. On the Moon, Earth's sole satel- 
lite world, his weight would be reduced to less than 
30 lbs., and on one of the tiny planetoids to a few 
ounces. Assuming he could exist there, suppose that 
while on one of the latter miniature worlds he played 
football, a good kick (owing to the lessened gravity) 
would not only send the ball soaring into space, but 
would be apt to send it spinning off the Httle planet. 

Speaking generally, the light and heat of the Sun, 
which is a slightly variable star, are maintained largely 
by the falling together of its particles as it slowly con- 
tracts, through the dominating force of gravity — the 
contraction theory of Helmholtz ; partly by the energy 
of radio-activity; and, to a very limited extent, perhaps, 
by the dashing of masses of meteors on the solar surface 
— the meteoric hypothesis of Mayer. The calculations 
of Helmholtz, the eminent naturalist (in 1854), showed 
that on account of the Sun's tremendous mass, a con- 
traction of some six inches daily, or about one hundred 
and eighty feet a year, from the surface toward the 
centre, would generate enough heat to maintain its 
supply of energy for imtold seons. And again, it has 
been calculated that if there were two and a half parts 
of radio-active matter in every one million parts of the 
Sun's matter, the heat given out would be sufficient 
to keep up the Sun's output of heat and light. 

Yet, immense as it is to-day, the Sun's store of heat 
must some day become exhausted. Slowly but surely, 
the solar globe must contract from its present gaseous 
condition to such a degree of solidity that it will begin 
to grow cold, and, having dissipated all its energy, be 
no longer able to support Hfe on the Earth — a time, the 



The Sun 287 

newer views put as indeterminately distant, and known 
only to Him whose are the eternal years. It will still 
continue to rush along in space, not however, as the 
orb of day, but as a dark and dead sun, accompanied 
by eight dark, cold, uninteresting worlds circling cease- 
lessly around it. Byron, in the opening lines of his 
Darkness y thus alludes to this period: 

I had a dream which was not all a dream, 
The bright Sun was extinguished, and the stars 
Did wander darkling in the eternal space, 
Rayless and pathless, and the icy Earth 
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air. 

Eventually the Sun may come into collision with 
another body, when as a result of the cataclysmic 
shattering that must ensue, the present planetary 
system will be destroyed, and a spiral nebula may be 
formed, from which, after indefinite ages, a new system 
will be evolved, and thus, 

The world's great age begins anew. 

In solar observation with a telescope, especial pre- 
caution should be taken to shield the eye from the 
greater part of the heat and light. A small protective 
cap of dark glass, preferably dark yellow or dark green, 
may be used, on small instruments — up to two-and-a 
half-inch — over the eyepiece. For use with larger 
instruments special forms of eyepieces have been 
devised, which allow most of the light and heat to 
escape. The simplest of these is called the '' Herschel'* 
eyepiece, an attachment which greatly reduces the 
discomfort and risk. A very convenient method for 
both observing and exhibiting the sun is to fix a screen 



288 The Call of the Stars 

behind the eyepiece of the telescope, and let the image 
of the sun be projected upon the screen. Or again, 
the sensitised plate may be substituted for the screen 
and a photograph obtained, which can be examined 
at leisure. 

To the amateur observer, the chief objects of inter- 
est on the bnght solar disk are those relatively dark, 
irregular spots called "sun-spots" (Plate XXL). 
They usually appear, not singly, but in groups, and 
generally follow certain definite zones, mostly lying 
between io° and 35° north or south heliographic lati- 
tude. They are the most conspicuous markings ever 
observed on the Sun, and are regarded by many as 
emblems of advancing age. Their average lifetime 
is two or three months; sometimes, however, they dis- 
appear in a day, and again they have been known to 
last as long as eighteen months. They are, as demon- 
strated by Hale, in 1908, probably great electrical 
vortices or whirling storms, and are regarded as some- 
what analogous to cyclones, tornadoes, or water-spouts 
on the earth. The vortex in the solar atmosphere has, 
it is believed, a spiral structure, and may be either 
right-handed or left-handed in its direction, while the 
effect of the vortical motion is to draw into the spot 
gases from the upper solar atmosphere, which are 
ejected from the spot at lower levels. The gases 
present in the nucleus of a sun-spot have a consider- 
ably lower temperature than on the surface of the Sun 
outside of the spot, owing, it is thought, to their cooling 
by expansion in the axis of the vortex. 

In a typical spot, the dark central portion is called 
the umbra, and the lighter irregularly shaded grey 
portion around it the penumbra. The umbra of a 
spot is not really dark but only relatively so with 




Yerkes Observatory 

Plate XXI. The Great Sun-Spot of July 17, 1905 



The Sun 289 

respect to the brilliant envelope of the Sun — the photo- 
sphere — as it is actually more brilliant than the electric 
arc. Frequently a spot will be seen to be crossed by 
one or more brightly shining plume-like projections 
called "bridges'* (Plate XXL). Generally the surface 
in the neighbourhood of the sun-spots seems more or 
less raised, and the spots themselves are usually above 
the general surface of the photosphere. In size, sun- 
spots vary greatly, ranging from five hundred to fifty 
thousand miles in diameter, and sometimes a penumbra 
surrounding a group of spots will measure from one to 
two hundred thousand miles across. The area of one 
spot photographed at Greenwich in March, 1905, was 
nearly forty times that of the entire surface of the earth. 
Not infrequently sun-spots are large enough to be 
seen with the naked eye, either when the sun is low on 
the horizon, or during the day, through a piece of 
smoked or coloured glass. Such spots as can be seen 
with the unaided eye, it may be noted, are at least 
four times the size of the Earth. About thirteen and a 
half days (13 days, 14.5 hours) are required for a spot 
to travel across the solar disk from its eastern edge, or 
limb, to the western, and a similar period of time to 
reappear at the eastern edge. 

A rather remarkable fact regarding sun-spots is 
that they are more numerous at some seasons than at 
others, and that they increase and decrease at stated 
periods. According to the latest researches, the aver- 
age length of the sun-spot cycle, as this increase and 
decrease is called, is ii.i years. Usually the spot- 
maximum follows the preceding spot-minimum, after 
about four and a half years, while the minimum happens 
about six and a half years later than the maximum. 
The period, however, is not one of absolute regularity, 
19 



290 The Call of the Stars 

a variation amounting to as much as two years being 
possible in either direction. There will be a sun-spot 
maximum in 191 5. Generally the spots of a given 
period are first seen some 35° from the solar equator, 
and as the period progresses, they increase in size, 
reaching their greatest numbers when their latitude is 
about 20°. Then they begin to diminish both in num- 
ber and size and die out as they draw toward the 
equator. 

The sun-spots are found to be strong magnetic fields, 
and their periods appear to coincide closely with various 
magnetic and electric phenomena on the Earth. When 
spots are numerous on the Sun, violent magnetic storms 
and brilliant auroras are found to be numerous on the 
Earth. Furthermore, some writers say, there are 
reasons for believing that there may be some connec- 
tion between the average temperature and rainfall and 
the relative frequency and size of sun-spots. 

Besides the spots, and readily seen with a small 
instrument, are the "faculae" or little torches — bright 
ridges or patches scattered irregularly over the solar 
surface. They are from one thousand to more than 
forty thousand miles in length, and from about one 
thousand to nearly four thousand miles in breadth. 
They appear to be elevated above the general level, 
and are best seen near the edge of the solar disk. The 
f aculae are the brightest parts of the Sun, and are espe- 
cially abundant and active in the vicinity of sun-spots. 
Unlike the spots, however, they are found everywhere, 
except in polar latitudes. Moreover, a facula standing 
alone is generally looked upon as the precursor of a 
sun-spot forming at that site. 

Closely connected with the faculas are the red flames 
or "prominences" (Plate XXII.), which like the sun- 




Yerkes Observatory 

Plate XXII. 



A Large Solar Prominence (two views) 

(October lO, 1910) 



The Sun 291 

spots increase and decrease about every eleven years. 
They are projections from a layer of prominent gases 
— the chromosphere — surrounding the photosphere. 
They are of a brilliant red colour — due to glowing 
hydrogen — when viewed in profile, at the edge of the 
sun, but white when seen in projection against the 
intensely brilliant solar disk. Their average height 
is about fifty thousand miles. Occasionally, however, 
they attain an altitude of from one hundred and fifty 
thousand to over three hundred thousand miles. The 
velocity of their ascent varies from about three hundred 
to over five hundred miles a second. On October 7, 
1880, Young measured a prominence and found it to 
extend three hundred and fifty thousand miles beyond 
the edge of the Sun, and Hale, on March 25, 1905, with 
his then newly invented spectroheliograph, photographed 
a prominence that increased from one hundred and 
thirty-five thousand to two hundred and eighty-one 
thousand miles, while Rambaut, at Oxford, noted on 
November 15, 1907, a prominence which rose to a 
height of nearly three hundred and twenty-five thou- 
sand miles. Formerly it was necessary to wait for a 
solar eclipse to see the prominences, but now they are 
observable at any time in broad daylight, with the aid 
of the spectroscope. 

Solar prominences, or protuberances, as they are 
sometimes called, are broadly divided into two classes — 
the eruptive and the quiescent — which differ markedly 
both in size and character. The quiescent promi- 
nences are cloud-like forms composed mainly of hydrogen 
and helium and, though found over all parts of the 
Sun*s surface, are most numerous in the neighbourhood 
of the poles. They assume all kinds of shapes, tend 
to spread horizontally, and are frequently of large 



292 The Call of the Stars 

size. While, as a rule, they are never of great height, 
at times their elevation is from forty thousand to sixty 
thousand miles. They are not very brilliant, alter 
their shape but slowly, and are, in form, often like huge 
trees with spreading tops. The eruptive or metallic 
prominences, on the other hand, rush outward, with 
immense speed to gigantic heights, and change their 
shape and size with great rapidity. The velocity of 
their outward rush is in some cases as high as six hun- 
dred miles a second. They are most brilliant and fas- 
cinating objects, but are usually of short duration, 
seldom lasting over half an hour and are apparently 
composed largely of metallic vapours. Sometimes 
they spring into existence, flame up to prodigious height, 
and die out again, all within tv/o or three minutes. 
They appear to be intimately connected with the for- 
mation of sun-spots, and are mostly found in the spot 
zones. Some of the masses of heated gas hurled from 
the eruptive prominences must, it is evident, pass 
beyond the solar control, since the Sun's attraction 
is unable to hold back any matter that started from 
its surface with a velocity greater than three hundred 
and eighty-three miles a second. Escaping into space, 
these masses would condense into solid bodies and speed 
away to regions unknown, an occasional one, per- 
chance, finding its way to one of the planets. 

The visible, bright surface of the Sun — the innermost 
portion that can be seen — is the "photosphere," or 
light sphere. It is a white cloud-like covering, com- 
posed largely of intensely hot metallic vapours, and 
from it comes most of the light and heat. It is con- 
siderably darker at the edge than toward the apparent 
centre of the disk, and to the naked eye appears rela- 
tively uniform and calm. In the telescope the entire 




U. S. Naval Observatory, Washington 

Plate XXIII. Total Eclipse of the Sun, with Corona, 
May 28, 1900 



The Sun 293 

surface has a granulated or mottled appearance, which 
has been aptly compared to that of a piece of grey- 
cloth with rice-grains or snowflakes thickly scattered 
over it. 

Above the seething photosphere lies the relatively 
quiescent "reversing layer," which is composed of 
glowing gases, and varies from five hundred to a thou- 
sand miles in thickness. It is somewhat cooler than 
the photosphere, and contains many of the terrestrial 
elements in a vaporous state. It was discovered by 
Young, by means of the spectroscope, during the total 
solar eclipse of 1870. Scattered through it, and close 
to the photosphere, is a thin cloud of small particles, 
which tends to reduce somewhat the intensity of the 
light radiated from the photosphere. 

On the reversing layer rests the "chromosphere," 
or colour sphere, the upper portion of which is in a 
state of violent agitation, like the waves of the storm- 
tossed sea. Like the prominences which rise from it, 
the chromosphere is of a brilliant scarlet colour, but 
its redness is completely overpowered by the intensely 
white light of the photosphere shining through it. 
It is from five thousand to ten thousand miles in depth, 
and is made up mainly of incandescent hydrogen, 
helium, and calcium. As seen through a telescope, at 
a total solar eclipse, it has been aptly described as 
like "a prairie on fire." Like the prominences the 
chromosphere is observable at any time with the 
spectroscope. 

Next in order, outside the chromosphere, lies the 
"corona," a halo of pearly-white light, observed only 
during the few minutes of totality of a solar eclipse, 
that streams out from the Sun to a distance of several 
million miles, and gradually loses itself in the dark 



294 The Call of the Stars 

background of the sky. It forms a charming crown 
of glory to the ecHpsed Sun, and is altogether a most 
beautiful and impressive phenomenon, a reminder of 
the nimbus or halo with which the heads of saints are 
encircled in works of art. Its shape varies in close 
accordance with the sim-spot period, and its light is 
about two or three times as great as that of the full 
moon. 

Sometimes, as when appearing at the time of spot- 
maximum, it sends out rays and streamers in all direc- 
tions, in a manner suggesting the rays of a mammoth 
star. At other times, as when appearing at spot- 
minimum, it shows two great wings sometimes of most 
extraordinary length, extending east and west in 
the direction of the Sun's equator, and a number of 
short, plume-like rays, or brushes of light, round the 
solar poles. The late Langley, in the clear air of Pike's 
Peak, traced the vast equatorial wings of the corona 
of 1878, with the naked eye, to nearly twelve million 
miles. It is apparently made up of particles of exceed- 
ingly rarefied matter mingled with incandescent gases, 
a characteristic constituent of which is an element, 
unknown on earth, called Young's coronium. Accord- 
ing to Mendeleeff, this element — coronium — is sup- 
posed to be a very light gas, with a molecular weight 
and atomic weight about one-tenth that of helium. 

In mythical story, the Sun was considered as the 
god of day — the Day Star — and was accorded divine 
honours. Its representative in the Greek pantheon was 
Helios, afterwards identified, though not completely so, 
with Phoebus Apollo, the Sun-god; and to the Romans 
it was known as Sol. Helios was the son of Hyperion 
and Thea, and a brother of Selene and Eos. He was 
described as the god who sees and hears everything, and 



. The Sun 295 

by Homer was alluded to as giving light both to gods 
and men. His symbol, fire, was maintained with the 
utmost care upon heathen altars. Moreover, so ex- 
ceedingly wide-spread was sun-worship, that the idola- 
trous practice seems to have existed at some period in 
nearly every land. Among the animals particularly 
sacred to the Sun may be mentioned the cock. 

Like the stars, the Sun was supposed to rise in the 
east, out of the River Oceanus, traverse the heavens 
in a glowing chariot, and descend into the darkness of 
the west and Oceanus, returning during the night in a 
winged boat of gold. Another legend relates that he 
inhabited a most magnificent palace, not far from Col- 
chis, to which after his daily drive across the sky, he 
was conveyed in a golden boat along the northern coast 
of the Euxine, now the Black Sea. The horses and 
chariot with which he traversed the heavens are first 
mentioned in the Homeric hymn on Helios. 

In the Vedas of the Hindus are hymns to the Sun, as 
also to the stars and the dawn, which formed a sort of 
ritual, that was chanted by the priests at sunset and 
sunrise. With the Egyptians the rising sun was Horus, 
the child-god, and the setting sun, Osiris, the husband 
of Isis. In the myth of Horus, as depicted on Egyptian 
temple walls, Horus was represented as battling with 
and slaying Typhon, the god of the underworld, who 
had cruelly murdered and mutilated his father Osiris. 

Many of the solar temples of the Egyptians faced 
either the sunrise or the sunset, at the time of the 
summer solstice, while others were oriented to the 
winter solstice. And again, nearly all the Grecian 
temples were oriented so that the Sun might shine 
through them at some period of the year. The cathe- 
drals of the Middle Ages were mostly oriented to the 



296 The Call of the Stars 

sunrise. Fiirthermore, many of the old English ca- 
thedrals are found to face due east, or to the sunrise 
on the festal day of their patron saint. At Stonehenge 
(stone-circle) on Salisbury plain, about two miles from 
Amesbury, and ninety miles south-west of London, are 
the imposing ruins of an ancient sanctuary erected 
about three thousand years ago, and probably Druidi- 
cal, where a single large rock appears so placed that as 
the Sun rises on midsummer's day (Jime 21st), its 
shadow falls on the central so-called altar. 

The famous Colossus that stood at the entrance of 
the harbour of Rhodes was a statue to the Sun, by 
Chares, a pupil of Lysippus. It was erected B. c. 280, 
and was upward of 105 feet in height. It stood, how- 
ever, only fifty-six years, as it was overthrown and 
broken to pieces by an earthquake B. c. 224. Nine 
hundred years after it had come crashing down, the 
Saracens cleared up the debris, and loaded nine hundred 
camels with the metal recovered. 

In Peru the worship of the Sun constituted the 
peculiar care of the Incas. In the capital city Cuzco — 
the city beloved of the Sun — stood a magnificent temple 
with an image of the Sun emblazoned upon the western 
wall. The figure was engraved on a massive plate of 
gold, of enormous dimensions, thickly powdered with 
emeralds and precious stones. It was so situated that 
when the huge doors of the eastern portal were thrown 
open, the rays of the rising Sun fell full upon it. 



CHAPTER IV 



MERCURY AND VENUS 



The planet Mercury, the fast-flying planet, is the 
smallest of the Sun's planet family, and has no satellite 
circling round it. There are recorded observations of 
it made nearly three centuries before the Christian era, 
although the ancient astronomers failed to recognise 
its identity, as it appeared alternately in the morning 
and in the evening sky. For a time it was supposed 
to be two independent planets, and to these, separate 
names were assigned. By the Greeks, the morning star 
was called Apollo, and the evening star Mercury. 
Later, however, when these were found to be one and 
the same body, the name Mercury became universally 
applied to it. As it is never more than twenty-eight 
degrees from the Sun, it is comparatively seldom visible to 
the naked eye, and then only when it is near one elonga- 
tion or the other. As an evening star it is best seen at 
eastern elongations in the spring, and at western elonga- 
tions in the autumn. Even at its greatest elongation, 
it is visible for only about an hour or two after sunset, 
or an hour or two before sunrise. At the most favourable 
time to view it — during the evening exhibit that 
happens in the spring — it will, for more or less than 
a week, if the sky is clear, be readily seen in the 
twilight from half an hour to an hour or more after 

297 



298 The Call of the Stars 

sundown. The eastern elongations for 1914 occur on 
February 22 d, June i8th, and October 15th, and the 
western elongations on April 6th, August 5th, and 
November 23d. 

When seen with the naked eye, Mercury sparkles in 
the sunset glow with a slightly reddish tint, and when 
viewed through the telescope at midday or late in the 
afternoon, its colour is about that of the Moon or lighter. 
It is the nearest known planet to the Sim, its average 
distance being only thirty-six million miles, or a little 
less than two-fifths that of the Earth. Its orbit is so 
eccentric that the actual distance of the planet from 
the Sun varies from twenty-eight and a half million 
miles at perihelion to forty- three and a half million 
miles at aphelion. Its distance from the Earth varies 
from forty-nine million miles at the most favourable 
inferior conjimction, to one hundred and thirty-six 
million miles at the most remote superior conjimction. 
Its period of revolution — its sidereal period, or true 
year — is about eighty-eight terrestrial days (87.97), 
and its mean synodic period (from one inferior or 
superior conjunction to the next) is about one himdred 
and sixteen days. The latter period is the more import- 
ant of the two for observational purposes. The inclina- 
tion of the planet's orbit to that of the ecliptic is 
about seven degrees. 

Owing to the great eccentricity of its orbit. Mercury's 
speed varies from thirty-five miles a second at perihe- 
lion to only twenty- three at aphelion, so that its mean 
orbital velocity is about twenty-nine miles a second. 
The variations in its orbital velocity have the effect 
of bringing sometimes part of one edge, and sometimes 
part of the other edge of the dark hemisphere into the 
sunlight, and thus give rise to the phenomenon known 



Mercury and Venus 299 

as lihration. When the planet is nearest the Sun, it 
receives nine times as much Hght and heat as the Earth 
does, but when farthest away from it, only four times 
as much. In other words, it receives two and a quarter 
times more light and heat when nearest than when 
farthest from the Sim. Then, too, it makes the change 
from one position to the other within the comparatively 
short period of six weeks. Like Venus and the Moon, 
Mercury goes through phases from crescent to full. 
When nearest the Earth it is '*new" ; and when farthest 
away it is "full." At the two intermediate points of 
its planetary path, its appearance is not imlike that of 
the Moon at its first and third quarters. These phases, 
which are invisible to the naked eye, are readily observ- 
able in a small instrument. 

The diameter of Mercury, which, until recently, was 
supposed to be not over three thousand miles, is 
actually thirty-four hundred miles. The mass and 
density of the planet are not known with any degree 
of accuracy, although its average density is believed 
to be somewhat less than that of the Earth — the densest 
of all the planets. Its mass is considered to be so 
small, however, and its gravitative power so weak, that 
in accordance with the kinetic theory of gases, it could 
not hold any molecule moving faster than about two and 
a half miles a second, and as the molecules of but few 
gases move thus slowly, one would not expect to find 
much, if any, atmosphere on the planet. It has the 
lowest albedo, or light-reflecting power, in the local 
solar system. It has been calculated that it reflects 
only about thirteen per cent, of the light it receives from 
the Sun, eighty-seven per cent, being absorbed, which 
shows a lack of clouds and suggests also a scarcity of 
atmosphere. Clouds, especially white clouds, form one 



300 The Call of the Stars 

of the most highly reflecting surfaces known, giving 
out about seventy-two per cent, of the light that falls 
upon them. 

While little, if anything, is known as to the surface 
conditions existing on Mercury, it is generally conceded 
that the planet's surface is rugged and mountainous, 
somewhat similar to that of the Moon. Its force of 
gravity is smaller than that of any of the other 
planets, being a little less than one-quarter that of the 
Earth. Hence a man weighing one hundred and fifty 
poimds on the Earth, would weigh only about thirty- 
six pounds on Mercury. 

From a study of the faint markings noted upon it, 
the idea was announced in 1882, by the late Schia- 
parelli, and since confirmed by many observers, notably 
Lowell, that the planet rotates on its axis once during 
its revolution around the Sun. Consequently it keeps 
always the same side toward that luminary, as the Moon 
does toward the Earth, whilst its year and its day 
are of equal length, namely about eighty-eight terres- 
trial days. Roughly speaking, the temperature on the 
side that faces toward the blazing, dazzling Sun is 
over three hundred degrees above zero, while on the 
other side which is exposed to the intense cold of inter- 
planetary space, it is more than four hundred and fifty 
degrees below. It has been estimated that about 
three-eights of the total surface will remain in perpetual 
darkness, and about four-eights in continuous sunlight, 
while, as a result of the planet's great libratory swing, 
the remaining one-eighth (a zone perpendicular to the 
equator and extending from pole to pole) will have 
alternately day and night, and perhaps something 
resembling a tolerable temperature. It is believed 
that the axis of the planet stands plumb to its orbit 



Mercury and Venus 301 

plane, and that consequently it has no change of seasons 
such as the Earth enjoys. 

When, as occasionally happens, an inferior conjunc- 
tion occurs at the time the planet is near one of its 
nodes (points where its orbit intersects the ecliptic), 
it will appear to cross the vSun's disk, as the Moon does 
in solar eclipses. This phenomenon is called a transit 
of Mercury, and though of no great astronomical 
importance, is of no small interest to the amateur. 
During a transit the planet appears, when viewed in 
a small telescope, as a small, black, circular spot, against 
the bright solar surface. Since the Earth passes the 
line of nodes on May 7th and November 9th, transits 
can occur only near those days. They occur more 
frequently in November than in May, because Mercury 
is then much nearer the Sun. Their mean duration is 
about five hours. The first transit ever observed was 
that of November 7, 1631, by Gassendi. The last 
transit took place on November 14, '^ 1907, and the 
next three will occur on November 7, 1914; May 7, 
1924, and November 8, 1927. 

By the mythologists Mercury was considered as a 
herald and messenger of the gods, and was called 
Hermes by the Greeks, and Mercurius by the Romans. 
The Greek Hermes was a son of Jupiter and Maia, the 
daughter of Atlas, and was one of the twelve great 
gods of Olympus. He was endowed with shrewdness 
and sagacity, combined with cunning and the inclina- 
tion to lie and steal. A few hours after his birth, as 
the legend runs, he escaped from his cradle in a cave 
at Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, went to Pieria and 
carried off some of Apollo's oxen. Among other 
things, he is said to have run off with the sceptre of 
Jove, the sword of Mars, the trident of Neptune, 



302 The Call of the Stars 

and the magic girdle of Venus. He was the patron 
of orators, merchants, tradespeople, travellers, and 
thieves, and conducted the shades of the dead from the 
upper into the lower world. Mercury was likewise the 
patron of all gymnastic games of the Greeks, and is 
said to have been the author of a variety of inventions. 
He was regarded as the maintainer of peace and as the 
god of roads. His attributes were a travelling hat with 
broad brim, a staff given to him by Apollo, and a pair 
of beautiful golden sandals, which carried him across 
land and sea with the rapidity of the wind. At the 
ankles the sandals were provided with wings. Among 
the things sacred to him were the tortoise, the palm- 
tree, and the number four. 

In the seventeenth century, Goad, an old English 
writer, humorously termed the dwarfish planet, "a 
squinting lacquey of the sun, who seldom shows his 
head in these parts, as if he were in debt." 

Venus 

Next Venus, matchless for her brilliant light, 
Seems as the lesser Cynthia of the night. 

Brown. 

The best known of all the planets is Venus, often 
called the Earth's ''twin-sister." When near its ex- 
treme eastern or western elongation, it is the most 
brilliant and beautiful object in the heavens, the Sun 
and Moon excepted. Its dazzling, silvery light is 
often so intense that on moonless nights it casts quite 
a distinct shadow. Its brilliancy when at its greatest 
(Plate XXVIII.) has been estimated at about nine 
times that of Sirius, the brightest of all the stars, and 
five times that of Jupiter. It is ordinarily best yiew^d 



Mercury and Venus 3^3 

in the twilight or just before dawn, when the faint 
light of day takes off from its glare. 

It is extremely beautiful even in a good field-glass 
or prism binocular, and in an instrument equatorially 
moimted, can be readily seen in broad daylight. Like 
Mercury, it swings back and forth on either side of 
the Sim, and never departs far from that luminary, 
its farthest distance being forty-seven degrees. And 
again, it never gets higher in the heavens than forty- 
five degrees, which is half-way up to the zenith. 

When east of the Sun, Venus may be seen in the 
western sky, and is an evening star; when west of the 
Sun, it rises before dawn, and appears in the eastern 
sky as a morning star. It shines as an evening star 
from superior to inferior conjunction for nine and a 
half months, and as a morning star from inferior to 
superior conjunction for about the same length of 
time, remaining, in either case, visible anywhere from 
seven to eight months. It reaches its greatest bril- 
liancy some thirty-six days before and after inferior 
conjimction. At its greatest eastern elongation, it is 
visible for as much as three and a half hours after sun- 
down, and at its greatest western elongation for about 
the same length of time before dawn. It will be in 
superior conjunction in 1914 on February nth, and 
from the latter part of March to November will be the 
most brilliant and beautiful object in the western sky. 
Then, too, on August 5th, rather more than a month 
before greatest eastern elongation, it will pass within 
one-sixth of a degree of the planet Mars. Furthermore, 
it will be again at its best as an evening star in April, 
1916, December, 1917, and July, 1919, and as a morning 
star in February, 1915, September, 1916, and April, 1918. 

The ancients supposed Venus, the Mater Amorum, 



304 The Call of the Stars 

to be two separate stars, calling it Phosphorus or 
Lucifer, when appearing in the morning sky, and 
Hesperus or Vesper, when appearing in the evening 
sky. 

Phosphor she's termed when morning beams she yields; 
And Hesp'rus when her rays the evening gilds. 

Brown. 

The identification of Hesperus with Phosphorus is 
supposed to have been first made by the celebrated 
sage of Samos, Pythagoras. It is said that the Basutos 
still differentiate the morning and evening Venus. 
In a two-inch telescope Venus, like Mercury, exhibits 
phases (Fig. 7.), appearing, when farthest from the 
Earth, like the full moon, then gibbous, then like a half 
moon, then as a crescent, and finally, when nearest 
to the Earth, like the new moon. Its synodic period 
covers nearly 584 days, or rather less than one year and 
four months. The corresponding sidereal period, or true 
year of the planet, is a little less than 225 days (224.7), 
or not quite two-thirds as long as the terrestrial year. 

The average distance of Venus from the Sun is 
67,200,000 miles. Its orbit is more nearly circular 
than that of any other planet, the eccentricity (0.0068) 
being so small that the difference between its greatest 
and least distance from the Sun is less than a million 
miles. When nearest to the Earth, it is approximately 
twenty-five million miles away, but when at its greatest 
distance, owing to the situation of the two bodies in their 
orbits, it is somewhat over 135 milHon miles farther 
off. It has an orbital velocity of twenty-one miles a 
second, and, like Mercury, has no satellite. Its dia- 
meter is 7630 miles, or not quite three hundred miles 
less than the Earth's diameter. It is a more perfect 



Mercury and Venus 305 

sphere than is the Earth, being very little flattened at 
the poles, or bulged at the equator. Its mass is about 
0.82, its density about 0.89, and its surface gravity 
about 0.86 that of the Earth. Being so much nearer 
the Sun it receives nearly twice (1.9) as much solar 
light and heat as does the Earth. It reflects about 
seventy per cent, of the light which falls upon it, or 
about the same as that reflected by newly fallen snow. 
It has been estimated that its atmosphere is about 
twice as dense as that of the Earth, and full of clouds. 
Moreover, the peculiar brilliancy of Venus is thought 
by many to be, in great part, due to its cloud-laden 
atmosphere. Lowell and some others, however, deny 
that Venus is a cloud- wrapped planet, and consider 
that it owes its great lustre largely to its not being 
cloud-covered. Its gravity is such that no molecule 
of gas coming within the influence of its attraction, and 
travelling with a less speed than 6.37 miles a second, 
can escape from it. 

Concerning the rotation time of Venus, opinions 
differ greatly. Until about twenty-five years ago, it 
was generally supposed that both it and Mercury ro- 
tated on their axes in a period approximately twenty- 
four hours long. Now, while some astronomers, 
notably Trouvelot, Belopolsky, and See, still hold 
that it spins around in about twenty-three hours 
and twenty-one minutes, other observers, including 
Schiaparelli, Perrotin, and Lowell, believe that, like 
Mercury, it turns on its axis in the same time that it 
revolves about the Sun. In the former case, the day 
would be only a little shorter than the terrestrial day, 
and in the latter it would be equal to the planet's 
year. While the question must still be considered 
as an open one, and far from being definitely set- 

30 



306 The Call of the Stars 

tied, the balance of evidence seems, at present, to 
favoiir the opinion that the planet's periods of rota- 
tion and of revolution are the same, namely, about 
225 terrestrial days, the result being that it, like Mer- 
cury, turns one face ever toward the sun. On practi- 
cally one-half of its surface, therefore, there is perpetual 
simlight, and on the other half everlasting darkness. 
The fact that both telescopic and spectroscopic observa- 
tions have indicated to astronomers of equal reputation 
both the short day and no day at all, is, to say the 
least, unfortimate, and yet it is altogether likely that 
in time a way will be found of determining beyond 
doubt the actual rotation period of the veiled planet. 

The axis of Venus is so nearly perpendicular to the 
plane of its orbit, being inclined only about three and a 
half degrees, that the planet can have no changes of 
seasons to speak of. Its climates must rather be dis- 
posed in zones, with practically continuous summer 
in the equatorial, perpetual winter in the polar, and 
eternal spring in the middle zone. 

Owing to the dense atmosphere which surrounds it, 
little, if anything, is known of the physical condition 
of the planet. The observations of Lowell, however, 
record peculiar and perfectly distinct radial markings 
on the disk, which their discoverer regarded as per- 
manent features, and from which he confirmed Schia- 
parelli's theory in regard to its rotation period. A 
rather curious feature, the nature of which is not yet 
fully imderstood, is the dusky illumination of the dark 
side, which is occasionally seen. It is an appearance 
somewhat similar to that unique illumination, earth- 
shine, and is frequently termed the "phosphorescence.** 
It is thought by some to be of electrical origin, and 
by others to be only a ghostlike gleam from the vast 



Mercury and Venus 307 

sheet of ice and snow on the dark and sunless side of the 
planet. 

It sometimes happens that Venus passes across the 
disk of the Sim, from east to west, as Mercury does. 
The planet then appears as a round, black spot, easily- 
seen in the telescope, or, at times, even by the naked 
eye through a suitable shade-glass. This passage of 
the planet across the Sun's disk is called a Transit of 
Venus, and when central occupies about eight hours. It 
is an extremely rare phenomenon, not more than five 
transits having ever been observed. The first was seen 
by only two persons — ^Jeremiah Horrox, a curate of 
the English Church at Hoole in Lancashire, and his 
young friend, William Crabtree, a draper of Broughton, 
near Manchester — on Sunday afternoon, December 
4, 1639, and the last occurred on December 6, 1882. 
The transits happen in pairs, and can occur only when 
the Earth and planet are near the point where their 
orbits intersect. The transits forming a pair are sepa- 
rated by intervals of eight years, while the successive 
pairs are separated by intervals of 1053^ and 121 3/2 
years. The next pair of transits will occur on June 
8, 2004, and June 6, 2012. As Venus is entering upon 
or leaving the solar disk in a transit, the outline of 
its dark body is seen surrounded by a tiny luminous 
ring, due it is supposed to refraction, reflection, and 
dispersion of light by the planet's dense atmosphere. 
Formerly these transits were of great importance to 
astronomers, as they were believed to furnish the 
most certain and accurate means of determining the 
Sun's distance. Now, however, since other and better 
methods of solving the problem of the solar parallax 
have been developed, the transit has lost somewhat 
of its former importance, its scientific value being 



3o8 The Call of the Stars 

limited mainly to whatever opportunity it may afford 
for investigating the nature of the planet's atmosphere. 

Among the Romans, Venus was the goddess of love 
and beauty and was later identified with the Greek 
Aphrodite, who appears to have been identical with 
Astarte, called by the Hebrews Ashtoreth. In the 
Iliady Aphrodite is represented as the daughter of 
Jupiter and Dione, but the poets most frequently 
relate that she sprang from the foam of the sea. She is 
commonly represented as the wife of Vulcan, but she 
proved faithless to her husband, and was in love with 
Mars and several other gods, as also with the mortals 
Anchises, Adonis, and Butes. Her worship, as Venus, 
was promoted by Caesar, who traced his descent from 
^neas, who was supposed to be the son of Mars and 
Venus. She surpassed all the other goddesses in beauty, 
and hence received the prize of beauty from Paris. 
She also had the power of granting beauty and invin- 
cible charms to others, and whoever wore her magic 
girdle, at once became an object of love and desire. 
The month of April, as the beginning of spring, was 
thought to be particularly sacred to her. 

To the Peruvians, Venus was known by the name of 
Chasca, or the "youth with the long curling locks," 
and was adored as the page of the Sun. By the Arabs 
she was called El Zorah, the "Splendour of Heaven," 
and has been identified with Isaiah's "Lucifer, son of 
the morning" (Isaiah xiv., 12). 



CHAPTER V 

THE EARTH, THE TIDES, AND TIME 

Treated as an astronomic body, the Earth is a planet 
— the third in order from the Sun — travelHng in space 
like the other members of the solar system. It is a 
rotating globe, turning on its imaginary axis from 
west to east once in about every twenty-four hours 
(23 hrs., 56 min., 4.1 sees.). Viewed from Mercury 
or Venus it is the brightest object in the heavens, lit 
up by the light it receives from the Sun. It is sup- 
posed to have been originally a knot in the great parent 
nebula, that grew slowly outward to its present mass 
by the continual addition of planetesimal fragments. 
Its shape is very nearly that of an oblate spheroid, or 
roughly like that of an orange, though the amount of 
flattening at the poles is very small. The equatorial 
diameter is about twenty-seven miles greater than the 
polar, the former being about 7926 miles and the latter 
7899 miles. 

The measurement around the equator is about 24,- 
899 miles, and the curving of its surface is at the rate of 
about eight inches in every mile. The average distance 
of the planet from the sun is 92,820,000 miles. It re- 
volves around that luminary from west to east, in an 
orbit about 585,000,000 miles long in about 365}^ 
days (365 days, 6 hrs., 9 min., and 8.97 sees, of mean 
solar time), which forms its year, at the rate of about 

309 



310 The Call of the Stars 

eighteen and one-half miles a second, or about one 
and a half million miles a day. On accotmt of the 
eccentricity of its orbit, which amounts to not quite 
one- sixtieth (0.016) , it is some 3 ro million miles nearer to 
the Sun in winter (in the northern hemisphere) than in 
summer, and moreover the Sim looks nearly two per 
cent broader than when at its greatest distance. 
The planet's mean density, taken through and through, 
compared with that of water, is foimd to be about 
5.53. At the Earth's centre the density must be much 
greater than at the surface, equal probably to that of 
the heavier metals. 

The total mass of the planet has been estimated as 
equivalent to a weight of about sixty-five hundred 
million million million tons, and its age has recently 
been stated by Chamberlin to be not less than four 
himdred million years. Up to a comparatively recent 
date it was quite generally supposed that the Earth's 
interior must be in a molten state, owing to the high 
temperatures existing there. Now, however, scientific 
men beHeve that the Earth as a whole is more or less 
solid throughout, except perhaps in isolated places 
where collections of molten matter may exist. Further- 
more, it is thought that it has a rigidity, when con- 
sidered in its entirety, twice as great as that of steel. 
According to Sollas, the mean rate of rise of imder- 
ground temperatures is about 1° F., for every 80 or 
90 feet of descent. It varies greatly, however, at 
different places. In the Calumet and Hecla Mine, 
Lake Superior, which is 4989 feet in depth, the rate varies 
from 1° F. in 103 feet to 1° F. in 95 feet. The deepest 
boring is that made by the Austrian Government in 
Silesia, and is a mile and a quarter in depth. From 
these and other estimates, taking even the lowest rate 



The Earth, the Tides, and Time 311 

of increase of temperature, it is apparent that if it 
continues to great depths, the temperature of the 
interior must be very high. And yet, as the pressures 
on the earth's interior are presumably enormous, it is 
justifiable, without stretching probabiHty too far, to 
assume that they tend to keep the matter in a solid 
state in spite of the high temperature. It has been 
calculated that the pressure at the centre of the Earth 
is equivalent to three million times the pressure of the 
atmosphere at the Earth's surface, or about forty-five 
million pounds to the square inch. 

The terrestrial surface contains about 197,000,000 
square miles and is divided into two wide areas of 
land and water, of which about one-fourth is land 
and about three-fourths water. The northern hem- 
isphere contains about three times as much land as 
the southern, and the eastern hemisphere about two 
and a half times as much as the western. Like the 
face of the land, the bed of the ocean is marked by 
elevations and depressions, for it has its mountains 
and valleys, as well as its plains and plateaus of grey 
ooze. The difference between the average height of 
the continents and the average depth of the oceans is 
about three miles. The plateau of Tibet is about 
three miles above sea-level, and the bottom of the great 
Tuscarora Deep is about five miles below sea-level, 
making a difference in range of eight miles. 

The apex of the loftiest known mountain. Mount 
Everest in the Himalayas, is 29,002 feet above sea- 
level, and the bottom of the deepest ocean pit, about 
forty miles off the north coast of Mindanao, one of 
the Philippine Islands, is 32,086 feet below sea-level, 
making a difference in range — the greatest known — of 
over eleven and a half miles. It has been calculated 



312 The Call of the Stars 

by Chamberlin and Salisbury, that were all the conti- 
nents rubbed down, and ail the oceans silted up, so 
that the Earth was a perfectly smooth ball, it would be 
covered everywhere by its waters to a depth of nearly 
two miles. And again, geologists estimate that the 
general shrinkage of the planet, which they believe is 
going on, carrying down land surface and sea-bottom, 
has resulted in lessening its radius by some thirty-two 
miles. 

Surrounding the spinning Earth is a gaseous envelope 
of limited depth called the air, or the atmosphere, 
which is held to it by gravitation, and rotates together 
with it, and upon the presence of which nearly all forms 
of life on earth depend. Roughly speaking, it is made 
of nitrogen and oxygen, together with small quantities of 
other elements, such as argon, neon, xenon, krypton, 
and helium, and some compounds such as carbon 
dioxide and water vapour. About one-fifth by vol- 
ume is oxygen, three-fourths nitrogen, three- or four- 
hundred ths of one per cent, carbon dioxide, and a 
variable proportion water vapour. It is densest near 
the surface of the Earth and becomes less and less dense 
away from it, the density at a height of three and a 
half miles being approximately one-half that at the 
surface. Moreover, it seems that for every three and 
a half miles of ascent, the density of the atmosphere di- 
vides by two. The atmospheric strata have been com- 
pared by Shaw to the coats of an onion, and Rotch has 
shown that, at a height of several miles, there is a layer 
called a "reversing layer,'' where temperature ceases to 
fall with increasing height. 

Although it is impossible to determine exactly where 
the Earth's atmosphere ceases, there are reasons for 
believing that it may extend as far as one hundred 



The Earth, the Tides, and Time 313 

to two hundred miles, and beyond that can be said 
practically not to exist. Theoretically, however, its 
height is much greater, as in all probability it does not 
entirely cease to exist till the limits of the Earth's 
gravitative influence, some 620,000 miles off, are 
passed. In the thin height of the terrestrial at- 
mosphere, any gas molecules flying upwards with a 
velocity greater than 6 rib miles a second will pass be- 
yond the limits of the Earth's attraction and never 
return. And again, any wandering molecules of gas 
journeying through the solar system, which happen to 
come within the limits of the Earth's influence, will be 
captured by the planet. In this connection it may be 
noted, however, that as the molecules of nitrogen and 
oxygen, which enter largely into the composition of the 
atmosphere, move with a velocity' far below that 
necessary for escape from the Earth, there is no danger 
of the Earth's losing its aerial envelope rapidly. 

The weight of the atmosphere, as calculated by the 
late Mendeleeff, is fifty-one hundred billion tons. Its 
pressure at sea-level is about 141-0 pounds to the square 
inch. Hence, on the body of an adult person, averag- 
ing some two thousand square inches of surface, the 
pressure amounts to about fifteen tons. The air is a 
common medium of sound transmission, sounds being 
any vibrations that are capable of being perceived by 
the ear. The velocity of sound in the air at the tem- 
perature 32° F. is 1090.5 feet a second, and the increase 
in velocity due to rise in temperature is i A feet for 
each degree of Fahrenheit. The velocity of sound in 
liquids is over four times as great as in air, and in solids 
from eleven to fifteen times as great. 

* The maximum velocity of the molecules of oxygen is 1.8 miles a 
second, that of nitrogen 2 miles, and that of water vapour 2.5 miles. 



314 The Call of the Stars 

Astronomically, a most important effect of the 
atmosphere is its power of refracting light. When a 
ray of light passes from an optically rarer to an opti- 
cally denser medium, it deviates from a straight course, 
and is bent toward the perpendicular to the surface at 
that point. On the other hand, when it passes from an 
optically denser to an optically rarer medium, it is 
bent from the perpendicular toward a horizontal. This 
bending of the ray is called refraction. The amount 
of refraction is zero for a body at the zenith, and in- 
creases gradually toward the horizon, where it is a trifle 
over half a degree, or a little more than the greatest 
apparent diameter of either the Sun or the Moon. 

The light from a celestial object, as it passes down 
through the atmosphere from vacant space, enters a 
medium, the density of which continuously increases, 
and is in consequence refracted or bent toward the 
Earth or toward a perpendicular. On account of the 
refraction, the apparent position of such object is dif- 
ferent from the exact position, and hence in making 
observations to determine the exact position of a 
celestial object, correction has to be made for the 
effects of atmospheric refraction. For this purpose 
tables of refraction have been prepared showing the 
amount of refraction for every degree of altitude from 
the horizon to the zenith. It is the refraction of the 
clouds, which, it may be noted, do not reach an altitude 
above ten or twelve miles, that gives to the sky its 
beautiful colours morning and evening. And again, 
on account of atmospheric refraction the Sun seems to 
rise about three minutes earlier, and to set about three 
minutes later than it otherwise would do, thereby 
lengthening each day about six minutes. When 
either the Sim or the Moon is on the horizon, the rays 



The Earth, the Tides, and Time 3^5 

from the upper edge are refracted less than those from 
the lower edge. The lower edge of the disk being 
apparently raised more than the upper makes either 
celestial body appear flattened in the vertical direction. 
Moreover, when the lower edge of either body is seen 
apparently resting upon the horizon, its whole disk is 
in reality below it. 

The glow of light after sunset and before sunrise, 
known as 'HwiHght," is caused partly by refraction, 
but mainly by reflection of the Sun's rays from the solid 
particles in the upper atmosphere. In the evening 
the twilight lingers till the Sun sinks some eighteen 
degrees below the horizon, and in the morning the 
day begins to dawn when the Sun arrives within some 
eighteen degrees of it. Generally, it may be said, the 
duration of. twilight varies with the latitude, the 
seasons, and the condition of the atmosphere. In 
these latitudes the shortest twilight occurs in winter, 
and the longest in summer. 

It has been calculated that the Earth's atmosphere 
absorbs about fifty per cent, of the radiations which 
come to it from the Sun, part of the heat thus absorbed 
being later radiated out into space and part of it to- 
ward the Earth. Accordingly, the atmosphere tends, 
on the one hand, to keep down the temperature during 
the middle of the day, and on the other hand aids in 
maintaining the surface warmth at night. Then, too, 
it prevents, to a greater or less degree, radiation from 
the surface of the Earth at night. There is little or no 
danger of a frost on a cloudy night, as the clouds, by 
their blanket -like action, keep in the radiations from 
the Earth, and prevent the temperature dropping 
below the freezing point. When, however, the atmos- 
phere is clear and relatively free from water vapour. 



3i6 The Call of the Stars 

it does not catch the heat which the Earth is radiating, 
and in consequence the temperature drops more rapidly 
and to a lower point. 

To the rotation of the Earth on its axis from west to 
east, once in about twenty-four hours, is due the 
phenomenon of day and night, while to the Earth's 
revolution around the Sun, and the inclination of its 
axis to its orbit, which is twenty-three degrees and 
twenty-seven minutes, are due the variations of the 
seasons, and the differing lengths of day and night in 
various parts of the globe. Moreover, in Holy Writ 
is the assurance that "while the Earth remaineth, 
seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer 
and winter, and day and night, shall not cease'* 
(Genesis viii., 22). 

About the 21st of June, the summer solstice, the 
northern hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun at its 
greatest inclination, and the period of longest daylight 
occurs. At this time the Sun rises and sets north of the 
east and west points, is high in the heavens, and at this 
latitude remains over fifteen hours above the horizon. 
It is now midsummer in the northern hemisphere, and 
midwinter and the shortest day in the southern. 
After the solstice is past, the Sun begins to descend 
toward the equator, but as the amount of solar heat 
received during the day is greater than that radiated 
away at night, the mean temperature continues to 
rise. Owing to this more or less steady temperature 
increase, which may be prolonged for some six weeks, 
the hottest days of summer are not experienced until 
about the latter part of July or early in August. At the 
autumnal equinox on the 23d of September, the axis 
of the Earth is upright relative to the Sun, which now 
crosses the equator, and there is equal day and night 



The Earth, the Tides, and Time 317 

all over the world. The Sun rises and sets exactly 
in the east and west points, rising at 6 a.m. and setting 
at 6 P.M. It is now autumn in the northern and spring 
in the southern hemisphere. 

After the autumnal equinox, the northern hemisphere 
tilts more and more away from the Sun, which sinks 
each day lower and lower towards the southern horizon. 
About the 22 d of December, the time of the winter 
solstice, the Sun reaches its greatest southern declina- 
tion, and the northern hemisphere is tilted from it at 
its greatest tilt. The Sun rises and sets farthest 
south of the east and west points, and the shortest 
day in the year takes place. It is now winter in 
the northern hemisphere and summer in the south- 
em. At the South Pole it is mid-day of the long 
six-months* polar day, and at the North Pole it is mid- 
night of the long six-months* polar night. About the 
31st of December, the Earth reaches its perihelion, and 
is then nearest the Sun, being about 2>io million miles 
nearer to it than in midsummer. The period of greatest 
cold in the northern hemisphere does not occur when 
the days are shortest, but some six weeks later, namely 
about the end of January or beginning of February, as 
the Earth continues for a time to lose more heat during 
the night than is received during the day. 

After the winter solstice, the days gradually increase 
in length and the Sun rises at noon each day higher in 
the heavens, until about the 21st of March — the vernal 
equinox — it is overhead at the equator, and day and 
night are again equal all over the Earth. The Sun at 
this time rises exactly in the east and sets exactly in the 
west. It is now spring in the northern hemisphere 
and autumn in the southern. After the vernal equinox, 
the northern hemisphere becomes more and more tilted 



3i8 The Call of the Stars 

toward the Sun, which continues its northerly course, 
mounting higher and higher in the sky, until it arrives 
again at its greatest distance north of the equator about 
the 2 1st of June. The Earth in the meantime is re- 
ceiving more heat than is lost by radiation, the tempera- 
ture steadily rises, and gay summer begins. 

Owing indirectly to the eccentricity of the Earth's 
orbit, the seasons in the northern and southern hemi- 
spheres are of different length. The summer half of 
the year (from the vernal to the autumnal equinox) 
in the northern hemisphere is i86i days, and the 
winter half of the year (from the autumnal back to 
the vernal equinox) is 179 days. In other words, the 
summer half of the year is 7 J days longer than the 
winter half. The conditions are reversed in the south- 
em hemisphere, the winter half of year being longer 
than the summer half. Furthermore, the winters are 
colder, and the summers hotter, in the southern hemi- 
sphere than they are in the northern. 

The precession of the equinoxes, as previously noted, 
causes the axis of the Earth to swing slowly round 
westward in space, while at the same time, the attrac- 
tion of the other planets slowly changes the position 
of the Earth's orbit, in such a way that the apsides 
(the aphelion and perhelion points) move round slowly 
eastward. By reason of the combination of the pre- 
cession with the motion of the apsides, a revolution is 
produced, which will in the course of time (about 10,000 
years) reverse the present state of things. The peri- 
helion will then be reached in June and the aphelion 
in December. The northern summer will then be the 
shorter and the hotter one, and the northern winter 
the longer and the colder one. 

In mythology the Earth was personified under the 



The Earth, the Tides, and Time 319 

name of Gaea or Ge. In Hesiod, Gaea (Terra) is the 
first being that sprang from Chaos, and gave birth 
to Coelus, or Uranus, the first ruler of the world. 

Ere earth and sea and covering heaven were known, 
The face of nature, o'er the world, was one; 
And men have call'd it Chaos. 

Ovid (Elton's tr.). 

Ge was called the wife of Uranus, and the mother of the 
Titans, the Giants, the Cyclops, etc. Uranus hated 
these children, and Ge (Terra) therefore concealed 
them in the bosom of the Earth. She made a large 
iron sickle, and gave it to her sons, requesting them to 
take vengeance on their father. Cronos (Saturn) 
undertook the task and mutilated Uranus. The drops 
of blood which fell from him upon the Earth (Ge) 
became the seeds of the Erinyes, the Gigantes, ,and 
the Melian nymphs. Ge belonged to the deities of the 
nether world. Her worship appears to have been 
universal among the Greeks. Temples and altars 
were dedicated to her in almost every Greek city and 
in Rome. 

Pio Emanuelli of Rome has recently determined, 
from astronomical conditions, that the Crucifixion of 
Jesus Christ took place on the 7th of April, 1885 years 
ago. According to the most authentic records the 
date of our Lord's birth was about 4 B.C., and He only 
lived to be thirty-three, but the wondrous things He 
did during his brief stay here will be with the world 
through the ages. 

^ The Tides 

The tides are the periodic changes in the level of 
oceanic and other large bodies of water, caused mainly 



320 The Call of the Stars 

by the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon as the 
Earth rotates upon its axis. The Moon, being so much 
nearer the Earth than is the Sun, exerts the stronger 
pull, and plays the chief part in the raising of the tides, 
the tide-raising force ^ of the Sun being only about five- 
elevenths that of the Moon. The tides ebb and flow- 
generally twice every twenty-four hours and fifty-one 
minutes, a time identical with the interval between 
two successive passages of the Moon over the meridian. 
Hence the average interval between two successive 
high or low tides is about twelve hours and twenty-five 
minutes, and the average retardation from day to day 
is about fifty minutes. The time of high water occurs, 
not at the exact moment of the Moon's meridian pass- 
age, but a certain number of hours and minutes later, 
the length of the interval varying with the place of 
observation. The average interval between the time 
of meridian passage of the Moon and the time of high 
water is known as the "establishment of the port** 
(r etablissement du port). The establishment for New 
York is eight hours and thirteen seconds, and, there- 
fore, the time of high water each day will be, on the 
average, eight hours and thirteen minutes later than the 
time given in the almanac for the passage of the Moon 
across the meridian. 

Every lunar month there are two especially great 
tides known as Spring Tides, and two especially little 
tides known as Neap Tides. Spring tides — the high- 
est tides of the month — occur within a day or two of 
the time the Moon is either new or full, when it and the 
Sun are both exerting a pull in the same straight line. 

^ The tidal force exerted by any celestial body, it should be remem- 
bered, varies inversely as the cube — not as the square — of its distance, 
and directly as its mass. 



The Earth, the Tides, and Time 321 

Neap tides — the lowest tides — take place when the 
Moon is near first and third quarters, at which time the 
Sun and Moon are tending to pull the waters in dif- 
ferent directions. The relative heights of spring and 
neap tides are about as eight to three. When the Moon 
is nearest the Earth, the tides are almost twenty per 
cent, higher than when it is at its greatest distance. The 
tides are also higher than usual about the vernal and 
autumnal equinoxes, being highest near the autumnal 
equinox. The lowest tides occur at the solstices, the 
tides of the summer solstice being lower than those 
of the winter ones. The age of the tide at any 
place refers to the interval from the time of the new 
or full moon to the time of the next spring tide; 
while the difference in height between a high and 
a low tide, at any particular place, is called a range 
of tide. 

The tide consists of two parts — the direct tide upon 
the portion of the globe lying just under the body 
giving rise to it, and the opposite tide situated on the 
contrary side of the Earth — the waters on the near side 
of the Earth being affected by the tide-generating forces 
more powerftdly than is the Earth, and the Earth in 
general more powerfully than are the waters on the 
far side of the earth. As the Earth rotates on its axis 
the watery bulge, or protuberance, appears to travel from 
east to west as a tidal wave twice in twenty-four hours 
and fifty-one minutes, each wave differing slightly from 
its predecessor. In accordance with the laws of wave 
motion, the form of the wave only — not the water of 
the ocean — travels, while the speed of the wave depends 
upon the depth of the water. The average depth of 
the ocean is about three miles, and in each ocean is 
produced its own individual tidal wave. Once formed, 



Z22 The Call of the Stars 

these waves travel from ocean to ocean, and meeting 
other waves, more or less modify the tides. 

The great or parent tidal wave originates in the deep 
waters of the Southern Pacific, off Callao in Peru. It 
spreads east and west around Cape Horn, and past the 
Cape of Good Hope, having during its broad s.weep 
combined with a small tide-wave from the Indian 
Ocean. Here it joins the tide in the Atlantic off the 
African coast, and a small wave which has backed 
into the Atlantic around Cape Horn. The resultant 
wave sweeps northward up through the Atlantic with 
a velocity of about seven himdred miles an hour, being 
forty-one or forty-two hours old when it reaches New 
York. It is nearly sixty hours old when it reaches 
London and the German coast, having had to pass 
along the western coasts of Ireland and England, arotmd 
the northern end of Scotland, and through the North 
Sea. Thus in the great oceans, there must be at least 
five or six tide crests travelling simultaneously, follow- 
ing each other over nearly the same track. 

The time and character of the tides are affected by 
winds, by the contour of the land, and the depth of the 
sea. In mid-ocean the tides are only about two feet 
high. On the Long Island coast they are not over three 
feet in height, while on the coast of Maine their aver- 
age height is from ten to twelve feet. In Long Island 
Sound the conditions are such that the wave motion 
produces a rapid current, the rise and fall of the tide 
being about seven feet. The greatest tide in the world 
is to be seen in the Bay of Fundy, where tides of 
seventy to one hundred feet are said to be not un- 
common, their average height being about sixty feet. 
In lakes and inland seas, the tides are small and dif- 
ficult to detect. The Mediterranean and Baltic seas 



The Earth, the Tides, and Time 323 

have very trifling elevations, the tides on the coast 
of the former averaging less than eighteen inches, al- 
though at the head of some of the gulfs it reaches 
the height of three or four feet. In Lake Michigan, 
a tide of nearly two inches has been detected, the 
''establishment" of Chicago being about half an hour. 
According to the view of the late Sir George Darwin 
the constant tidal wave acts as a brake, and tends to 
slow down the speed with which the Earth rotates on its 
axis, and to lengthen the day. To-day the friction 
between the waters and the Earth, which retards the 
tides and diminishes the velocity of the Earth's rotation, 
is very small, and the consequent lengthening of the 
day and month extremely minute. So far as is known, 
the day is not lengthening by even so much as the 
hundredth part of a second in a thousand years. There 
are grounds for assuming, however, that tidal friction 
will, in the course of millions of years, so slow down the 
rotation of the Earth on its axis, that the day and the 
month will be equal, the planet then rotating on its 
axis in fifty-five of its present days. When that time 
arrives, the Moon will remain stationary over a certain 
spot of the Earth, and the two bodies, though still 
revolving around their common center of gravity, will 
turn the same face to each other. 

Sidereal and Mean Time 

So accustomed is every one to the apparent motion 
of the Sun around the Earth from east to west, that 
the real motion of the Earth around its axis from west 
to east, which produces the phenomenon, is often for- 
gotten. As time is usually thought of as reckoned 
westward from the meridian, while right ascensions 



324 The Call of the Stars 

are reckoned eastward from the vernal equinox — the 
intersection in the sky of the equator and the ecHptic 
— it may help to a clearer understanding of their rela- 
tions, if the real motion is reverted to. 

As suggested by Herschel, the extended plane of the 
meridian may be considered as a mammoth clock-hand 
or index-finger, and the celestial sphere as a great dial 
set with diamond stars for *' time-marks," while the 
index-plane, revolving uniformly with the Earth from 
west to east, may be regarded as pointing to the 
successive marks on the heavenly dial. For further 
convenience other time-marks may be assumed, set 
along the celestial equator, among the stars, at equal 
distances from each other. Adopting a starting point 
for these, the whole circle may be divided into 360 
equal parts called degrees, or into twenty -four equal 
parts called hours. And as the natural time-marks 
cannot always be seen, and not at all the artificial ones, 
and the index cannot always be extended, a machine has 
been invented, called a clock, that shows in effect the sev- 
eral equal intervals as marked out and indicated by the 
terrestrial index, on the artificial celestial equatorial dial. 

The vernal equinox or first of Aries — the noon-mark 
for sidereal time — is such a starting point. The interval 
between two successive returns of the meridian index 
plane thereto is called a day — a sidereal day — and 
each of its twenty-four equal parts, counted from o to 
24, a sidereal hour, and the clock a sidereal clock, 
while the duration reckoned in these units is termed 
sidereal time. The position of the natural time- 
marks, -namely, the Sun, Moon, planets, and fixed stars, 
relative to the artificial time-marks, have been care- 
fully tabulated, and the sidereal times they indicate 
are called the right ascensions of these bodies. 



The Earth, the Tides, and Time 325 

For other uses the most natural time-mark, the Sun, 
may be adopted as a starting point. Here, however, 
it is quickly found that no clock that could be made 
would "keep step" with it. In other words it would 
be found that its days are not of equal length — that 
the Sun is in fact a poor time-keeper — the inequality 
being due to the variable orbital motion of the Earth, 
and the obliquity of the ecliptic. For instance, such 
a day near December 22 d is 51 A seconds of sidereal 
time, longer than a like day near September 17th. 
To avoid this inconvenience, a fictitious sun, known 
usually as the mean sun, has been adopted as a starting 
point. This mean sun is assumed to move uniformly 
along the celestial equator, sometimes ahead and some- 
times behind the real or true Sun, but never more than 
about sixteen minutes (16 min. 18 sec.) from it in 
time, so that the interval between two consecutive 
returns of the meridian index or noon line to this 
mean sun shall be equal. Such days are called mean 
solar days,'' and the twenty-four equal parts of them, 
mean solar hours, while duration reckoned in these 
units is called mean solar time, and the clock a mean 
solar clock. All ordinary clocks, it may be noted, are 
set to follow the fictitious or mean sun, the solar day 
being the actual day in ordinary use. Before clocks 
were perfected the gnomon and dial were used to give 
apparent solar time. 

The earliest mention of a sun-dial is found in Isaiah 
xxxviii., 8: ''Behold I will bring again the shadow of 
the degrees, which is gone down in the sun-dial of Ahaz, 
ten degrees backward." The largest sun-dial on record 
— the so-called " prince of dials " — is that at the modem 

^ There is also a planetary day, a lunar day, and a star day, which in 
length is the same as a sidereal day, within one-hundredth of a second. 



326 The Call of the Stars 

Hindu city, Jaipur. It was built about the middle of 
the eighteenth century by the famous Maharaja Siwai 
Jai Singh II., and restored in 1902. Its gnomon, with 
stone stairs, is nearly 150 feet long at its base, and 
about 90 feet in height. The dial is so arranged that 
the shadow of the gnomon falls on a large stone quad- 
rant of 50 feet radius, across which, as noted by Jacoby, 
it moves at the rate of 2^ inches a minute. 

In length, twenty-four hours of mean solar time are 
equal to 24 hrs. 3 min. and 56.55 sec. of sidereal time, 
and hence the solar day is nearly four minutes longer 
than the sidereal day. It has been conjectured, some- 
what fancifully, that about forty-five million years ago, 
the day was but sixteen hours long; some ten million 
years before that only ten hours ; and still earlier possibly 
not over one hour. 

Whenever the meridian index in its revolution with 
the Earth arrives at the true vernal equinox, it is then 
said to be sidereal noon at all places on that meridian, 
or local sidereal noon to distinguish it from Greenwich 
sidereal noon. And the right ascension to which the 
meridian index, continuing its revolution, points at any 
instant, is called the sidereal time, or more definitely 
the local sidereal time at that instant at that meridian, 
to distinguish it from the Greenwich sidereal time at 
the same instant. Evidently, if the meridian index 
arrives at the Sun or a star or other celestial body, the 
local sidereal time of that event is just the right ascen- 
sion of that body or point without further computa- 
tion. The sidereal clock conveniently dispenses with 
direct observation of the sidereal dial. 

Similarly when the meridian index, in its revolution, 
arrives at the mean sun, that instant is called local 
mean noon, to distinguish it from Greenwich mean 



The Earth, the Tides, and Time 327 

noon for which instant many of the quantities in the 
Nautical Almanac are tabulated. And the point on the 
artificial mean-time dial, to which the mean-time index. 
continuing its revolution, points at any instant, is called 
the local mean time, at that instant, to distinguish it from 
the Greenwich mean time at the same instant. The 
mean-time clock conveniently dispenses with direct 
observation of the mean-time dial. 

These two time systems are so related that if the 
starting points were placed together the two dials would 
coincide, and any hour mark on either dial would exactly 
coincide with the like mark on the other, throughout 
the whole extent of both dials. Indeed this entire 
coincidence occurs once a year, about March 21st, 
namely, at the instant the mean sun, the initial point of 
one dial, is at the true vernal equinox, the initial point 
of the other dial. At that instant the two clocks also 
coincide. But only at that instant, for the mean sun, 
moving east, uniformly (sensibly so) increases its 
distance from the vernal equinox, that is its right 
ascension. It is as if the mean-time dial, concentric 
with the sidereal dial, revolved with its various time- 
marks, each advancing uniformly in right ascension 
equally with the mean sun, from which it is reckoned, 
at the rate of nearly four minutes a day. And this is 
also shown by the two clocks, the sidereal clock gain- 
ing that much on the mean-time clock each day, the 
difference amounting to exactly one day each year. 

Reverting now to the relation between apparent or 
sun-dial time and mean solar time, it may be noted, 
that the difference between the two is called the *' equa- 
tion of time." On four particular days in the year, 
namely, April 15th, June 14th, September 1st, and De- 
cember 24th, no difference exists between the clock and 



328 The Call of the Stars 

the Sun. On these days the Sun comes to the noon- 
mark on the sun-dial precisely at twelve o'clock, and the 
equation is zero. At four other dates the difference is 
appreciable. Thus, the Sun is 14 min. 2^] sec. behind the 
mean-time clock on February nth; 3 min. 49 sec. ahead 
of it on May 14th; 6 min. 16 sec. behind it on July i6th; 
and 16 min. 18 sec. ahead of the clock on November 2d. 

According to the system of standard time introduced in 
1883, five standard times are in use in North America, viz., 
the colonial, the eastern, the central, the mountain, and 
the Pacific. These correspond severally to the mean local 
times of the 60th, 75th, 90th, 105th, and 120th meridians 
west of Greenwich, and are exactly four, five, six, seven, 
and eight hours slower than Greenwich time. Chicago is 
about one hundred miles east of the 90th meridian west 
of Greenwich, which runs through St. Louis, so that 
standard time at Chicago is about eight minutes slow. 

The astronomical day is made to begin at mean noon, 
the hours being counted uninterruptedly from o to 24. 
The civil day, on the other hand, begins at midnight 
and ends at midnight, mean solar time, and is usually 
counted in two series of twelve hours each, although in 
some countries it is reckoned around through the whole 
twenty-four hours. In the early Scriptures of the Old 
Testament, the reckoning was from one setting of the 
sun to the next, **the evening and the morning" mark- 
ing the day. 

Were a traveller to start at any place, and go in a 
westward direction around the Earth, he would find the 
Sun crossing his meridian later each day, and in making 
the complete circuit he would lose exactly one day. 
On the other hand in going eastward around the Earth 
he would find the Sun crossing his meridian earlier 
each day, and in making a full circuit he would gain a 



The Earth, the Tides, and Time 329 

day. Evidently then, when going all the way around 
the earth in a westward direction, he must somewhere 
set the date forward a day, as from Tuesday to Wednes- 
day, and in going around eastward, he must drop back 
a day in his reckoning, as from Wednesday to Tuesday. 
A convenient place to make the change of date, agreed 
upon by all civilised nations, is a hypothetical line 
coinciding approximately with the meridian 180° from 
Greenwich. This line is called the "international date- 
line, " and passes through the western part of the Pacific 
Ocean, hardly anywhere touching the land. It is prac- 
tically the place where each calendar day first begins. 

Next to the day, the shortest natural division of 
time is the month — the period required by the Moon to 
make a revolution around the Earth. The time it 
takes the Moon to pass round the Earth from a given 
star to the same star again is called the sidereal or true 
month. Its length is, on the average, 27 days, 7 hours, 
43 minutes, and 1 1 .55 seconds, but it varies some three 
hours. On the other hand, the time occupied in passing 
from the phase of new or full moon round to the same 
phase again is called the lunar or synodical month. 
Its average length is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 
and 2.86 seconds, but it varies nearly thirteen hours. 
It is a little more than two days longer than the sidereal 
month, and constitutes what is ordinarily understood 
as the month. The number of days in the month is 
tersely given in the following well-known jingle: 

Thirty days hath September, 
April, June, and November, 
All the rest have thirty-one, 
February has twenty-eight alone; 
But Leap Year coming once in four — 
February's days are one day more. 



330 The Call of the Stars 

The period of time required by the Sun to complete its 
apparent circuit of the heavens, eastward in the ecliptic, 
from a certain place among the stars back to the same 
place again, is called the sidereal year. Its length, in 
mean solar time, is 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 8.97 
seconds, or a little over 365! days. The time taken by 
the Sun to pass from the vernal equinox around the 
ecliptic and back again to the vernal equinox is called 
the tropical or mean solar year. Owing to the pre- 
cession of the equinoxes, the vernal equinox shifts 
slowly westward each year, so that the tropical year 
is about twenty minutes shorter than the sidereal year. 
Its actual length, in mean solar time, is 365 days, 5 
hours, 48 minutes, and 45.51 seconds. To avoid the 
difficulty presented by the tropical year, as the number 
of days it contains is not an even one, the civil year or 
the calendar year has been instituted, having an average 
length almost exactly equal to that of the tropical year. 

The early Greeks used a calendar based entirely upon 
the Moon, Hesiod describing the year as consisting of 
twelve months of thirty days each. The basis of the 
present calendar was fixed about the year 46 e.g., when 
Julius Caesar, with the aid of the Alexandrian 
astronomer Sosigenes, established what is known as the 
Julian calendar. According to this calendar, the year 
consisted of exactly 365 1 days. Intent on getting 
rid of the quarter day, Csesar ordained that it should 
be omitted from the reckoning for three years out of 
every four, and that every fourth year should contain 
366 days, the extra day — made up of the four quarter 
days — being added at the end of February. The aver- 
age year of the Julian calendar was, however, a little 
too long, being about 11 minutes and 14 seconds longer 
than the tropical year. Hence by the middle of the 



The Earth, the Tides, and Time 331 

sixteenth century the calendar had become in error 
by more than ten days. Pope Gregory XIIL, there- 
fore, in 1582 A.D., under the advice of the astronomer 
Clavius, introduced a sHght change. The ten accumu- 
lated days were dropped outright from the calendar, 
and the 5th of October was styled the 15th. To pre- 
vent recurrence of the error, it was agreed that there- 
after those years whose date numbers are divisible by 
four without a remainder are leap years, unless they 
are century years, and further that such century years 
as are exactly divisible by four hundred are also leap 
years. 

In The Climbing Boy's Soliloquies, James Montgomery 
thus quaintly alludes to the onward movement of Time : 

Time, on his two unequal legs, 

Kept crawling round the church clock's face, 
Though none could see him shift his pegs, 

Each was forever changing place. 



CHAPTER VI 



THE MOON 



How like a queen comes forth the lovely moon, 
Walking in beauty to her midnight throne! 

Croly. 

After the Sun, the most important of all the heavenly 
bodies to the inhabitants of the Earth is that orb of 
reverie and mystery, "which gods Selene name, and 
men, the Moon," Earth's nearest neighbour in space 
and most faithful attendant. Owing to the variety of 
its phases and the more rapid changes of its relative 
position in the sky, it holds a unique position in the 
starry heavens, while in brightness it far outshines all 
the planets and all the stars. To an observer on one 
of the nearer planets the Earth and Moon must look 
not unlike a beautiful double star, the Earth seeming 
far brighter than Venus, and the Moon brighter than 
Jupiter. Furthermore, did lunarian inhabitants exist, 
the Earth would appear to them as a resplendent globe, 
from thirteen to fourteen times as large as the Moon 
appears to people on the Earth. 

The mean or average distance of the Moon from the 
Earth is 238,840 miles. Owing to the eccentricity of its 
orbit (0.05) it is sometimes 252,972 miles away, and 
sometimes only 221,614. According to the latest 
measurements, the diameter of the Moon is 2163 miles, 

332 




Paris Observatory 

Plate XXIV. The Moon at Nine Days 

(Image inverted as in astronomical telescopes) 



The Moon 333 

or rather more than one-quarter that of the Earth. Its 
apparent diameter is about half a degree, or nearly the 
same as that of the Sun, although it varies somewhat, 
owing to the influence of the Earth's atmosphere. It 
travels eastward around the Earth in an orbit whose 
circumference is about 1,500,680 miles, at an average 
velocity of 2290 miles an hour, and completes a circuit 
in 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, and 11. 15 seconds, 
which, as mentioned in the preceding chapter, consti- 
tutes a sidereal month, the average length of the 
common or synodical month being 29 days, 12 hours, 
44 minutes, and 2.86 seconds. Then, too, as the Moon 
moves around the Earth, it appears to travel around 
the sky among the stars, at the rate of about thirteen 
degrees a day. 

The mean density of the Moon is about three-fifths 
that of the Earth, and its mass rather less than one- 
eightieth, while the force of gravity at its surface is 
about one-sixth that at the Earth's surface. It makes 
one rotation on its axis in the course of one revolution 
in its orbit, and in consequence, roughly speaking, it 
always keeps the same face towards the Earth. There 
is, therefore, one hemisphere of the lunar surface on 
which in its entirety no human eye has ever gazed. 
The collective effect, however, of the Moon's librations 
— the libration in longitude, the libration in latitude, 
and the so-called diurnal libration — is such that about 
four-sevenths of the lunar surface can be seen, while three 
sevenths remains forever concealed from view. Since 
the surfaces of globes are proportional to the squares of 
their diameters, and their volumes proportional to their 
cubes, it follows that the surface area of the Moon is 
about one-fourteenth, and the volume or bulk one- 
forty-ninth, of that of the Earth. The total surface 



334 The Call of the Stars 

of the Moon is, therefore, about equal to the combined 
areas of North and South America, while the face 
which it always keeps toward the Earth is slightly 
greater in area than the Russian Empire. 

The lunar globe is foimd to be devoid of any bodies 
of water, and is without sensible atmosphere. Indeed, 
it has not sufficient gravitative power to permanently 
retain an atmosphere, inasmuch as the critical velocity 
with which a particle would have to move in order to 
escape from the control of the Moon is only one and a 
half miles a second. With no atmosphere there is 
nothing to temper the alternate changes either from 
light to darkness, or from heat to cold. The day side 
of the Moon is exposed to the Sun's intense heat for a 
fortnight at a stretch, the temperatiu*e rising very high, 
probably reaching the boiling point, whilst through the 
long lunar night of a fortnight, the surface freezes in 
the icy cold, the temperature of the night side of the 
Moon falling very low, perhaps to 200° or 250° below 
zero. It is evident therefore, as another has suggested, 
that people not enjoying extremes of temperature 
should shun a lunar residence. 

The amount of light and heat received from the full 
moon is estimated as not more than one-six-hundred- 
thousandth of that received from the Sun. Hence it is 
apparent that were the sky full of moons, the light re- 
ceived from it by the Earth would be only about one- 
eighth part of the Sun's light. That the lunar globe is 
an arid waste, an effete and soundless world, there is 
every reason to believe, and, furthermore, there is noth- 
ing to show that life in the form it exists on earth ever 
had its being amid that universal ruin. The most con- 
spicuous services rendered the Earth by the Moon are 
the giving of light by night, and the raising of the tides. 




Yerkes Observatory 

Plate XXV. The Full Moon; the Moon at Fourteen and One-Half Days 

(Image erected; as viewed with the naked eye, opera-glass, or field-glass, or 
with telescope using terrestrial eyepiece. Some of the larger craters and 
chief mountain ranges are well shown here. The prominent crater in ^he lower 
right-hand quadrant of the illuminated disk is Tycho, and the large crater 
slightly below and somewhat to the left of the center of the disk is Coper- 
nicus. Note especially the wonderful system of bright streaks radiating from 
Tycho, and the complicated system of ridges and streaks radiating from 
Copernicus) 



The Moon 335 

Then, too, as indicated in Scripture, an important func- 
tion of this silver orb of night is to regulate the calendar, 
and mark out the times for the days for which special 
ordinances were imposed. In the words of that noble 
nature-psalm for Whitsunday — the 104th Psalm: 

He [God] appointed the moon for seasons. 

The ancient Hebrews had three great festivals, all 
defined as to the time of their celebration by the natural 
months, determined by actual observation of the new 
moon. The first was the Feast of the Passover, a spring 
feast, which corresponded to Easter in the Christian 
Church; the second was the Feast of Pentecost, that is, 
Whitsuntide; and the third was the Feast of Taber- 
nacles, an autumn festival, which was held at the time 
of the "harvest moon." The only great festival in 
Christian countries that depends directly upion the 
monthly motion of the Moon is the festival of Easter, 
marking the anniversary of the resurrection of Christ. 
This festival is also affected by the apparent yearly 
motion of the Sun, since its date is governed by the 
vernal equinox. The dates of all other movable feasts 
depend on that of Easter. In accord with the decree 
of the Council of Nice, Easter Day is always the Sunday 
immediately following the first full moon — the paschal 
moon, as it is called in the calendar — which occurs on or 
next after March 21st, which is the regular date of the 
equinox. If the full moon happens on Sunday, Easter 
is celebrated one week later. The earliest possible 
Easter date is March 22d, if a full moon falls on March 
2 1st and that day is Saturday, but this will not occur 
again till 2285. The latest possible Easter date is 
April 25th, if a full moon falls on March 20th, and the 



336 The Call of the Stars 

next on April i8th and that day is Sunday, but this will 
not occur again till 1943. Easter happened to fall in 
19 1 3, near the extreme, March 23d, and this will not 
occur again till 2008. 

Perhaps the most striking phenomena connected with 
the Moon are its series of phases, which are repeated 
once every 29.5 days. Being an opaque body shining 
merely by reflected light, it can be seen only as the light 
of the Sun illuminates it. In this connection it may be 
noted that the line of division between the illuminated 
and unilluminated portions of the disk is called the 
terminator. It is always a semi-ellipse, and its advance 
marks the progress of the lunar day. When the Moon 
is between the Earth and the Sun, its dark side is turned 
toward the Earth, the illuminated side being, of course, 
toward the Sun. It is then entirely invisible, and this 
unseen phase is the real new moon, as announced in the 
almanac. About two or three days later, a thin cres- 
cent of silvery light, with horns turned from the Sun, 
appears in the evening twilight, just after sunset, and 
this crescent is commonly called the new moon. Bryant 
refers to it as: 

That glimmering curve of tender rays 
Just planted in the sky. 

Gradually the crescent broadens out, as the Moon 
moves away from the Sun, until on or about the seventh 
day — the Moon changing approximately every seven 
and a half days — it reaches a position designated as its 
first quarter, and is then a bright semi-circle off in the 
south at sunset. During the next few days, as the Moon 
moves eastward, more and more of its illuminated surface 
is brought into view, until three-quarters of the disk ap- 
pears lighted up, and it is then said to be gibbous. On or 




Paris Observatory 

Plate XXVI. The Moon at Nineteen Days 

(Image inverted as in astronomical telescopes) 



The Moon 337 

about the fourteenth day, the Moon Is opposite the Sun, 
and the whole of its round disk appears illuminated. It 
is then alluded to as full moon (Plate XXV.), rising 
about sunset and setting about sunrise, and represents 
the phase of most brilliant illumination. Passing on in 
its orbit, its phases recur in reverse order, the full phase 
giving place to the gibbous, and this in turn to the semi- 
circle, or last quarter, which phase it reaches some- 
where about the twenty-first day, and is then seen high 
in the heavens in the early morning hours. Step by 
step it draws closer to the Sun, thinning down to a 
crescent shape again, with the horns turned from that 
luminary, until it is lost once more in the solar glare, 
only to re-emerge, on or about the twenty-eighth day, 
as new moon, and begin again its cycle of change. 

When the Moon shows a very thin crescent, the dark 
portion of the lunar globe can be dimly seen standing 
out against the sky, shining with a faint, soft light, 
called the ashen light — la lumiere cendree. The appear- 
ance is popularly known as the ''old moon in the new 
moon's arms" (Plate XXVII.), and is sometimes termed 
earth-light or earth-shine. In the famous old Scotch 
ballad of Sir Patrick Spens, allusion is thus made to the 
phenomenon : 

I saw the new moon late yestere'en, 
Wi' the auld moon in her arms. 

It is simply the light which the Earth reflects from its 
surface to the Moon — the reflection of a reflection — and 
by the weather-wise is looked upon as a sign of fair 
weather. There is a widespread popular belief, handed 
down from remote antiquity, that the Moon's changes 
influence the weather. Unhappily this belief is not 
restricted to the uneducated classes, but is more or less 



338 The Call of the Stars 

prevalent among the intelligent and well-informed. 
Every one knows that when a line joining the horns or 
points of the Moon's crescent lies nearty perpendicular 
to the horizon, so that the crescent cannot hold water, 
the Moon is popularly called a wet moon, and that when 
it is almost horizontal, so that the crescent can appar- 
ently hold water, the Moon is termed a dry moon, and 
is commonly considered a sign of fair weather. And 
further, that a three-days-old moon clearly seen denotes 
fine weather, while to see the Moon in the daytime fore- 
tells the approach of cool days. Or again, that when a 
large star or planet is seen near the Moon, or as sailors 
express it, "a big star is dogging the Moon," it is a 
certain sign of boisterous weather. 

In her account of the burial of poor old Thias Bede 
by the "White Thorn," George EHot in Adam Bede, 
Chapter XVIII., refers to one of the more common 
beliefs, when she makes old Martin say to his son: 
**It' ud ha' been better luck if they'd ha' buried him i' 
the forenoon when the rain was fallin'; there's no 
likelihoods of a drop now, an' the moon lies like a boat 
there, dost see? That's a sure sign o' fair weather; 
there's a many as is false, but that's sure." The cres- 
cent moon appearing either supine or prone has, how- 
ever, no more to do with weather changes than has the 
Panama Canal or the Monroe Doctrine. A little reflec- 
tion will show that the cusps or horns of the new moon 
must point from the Sun, and that as the ecliptic is 
differently inclined to the horizon at various times 
of the year, the crescent will also occupy a different 
position with reference to the horizon. There is, it 
may be noted, a real but ill-defined seven-day period of 
the weather which is a genuine phenomenon and is 
probably due to terrestrial causes, having nothing 




Yerkes Observatory 

Plate XXVII. Earth-Shine on the Moon 




Yerkes Observatory 

Plate XXVIII. The Planet Venus, Showing Crescent Phase 



The Moon 339 

whatever to do with the Moon. The facts as regards 
the Moon and the weather are perhaps fairly repre- 
sented in the trite jingle: 

The Moon and the weather 
May change together, 
But change of the Moon 
Does not change the weather; 
If we'd no Moon at all — 
And that may seem strange — 
We still would have weather 
That's subject to change. 

The young, innocent-looking crescent moon has on 
more than one occasion been a trouble to novelists. 
One prominent writer is credited with having described 
a star as shining between the horns of the crescent 
moon, as though there were no dark body there to 
intercept a view of the star, and even Coleridge, in Part 
Third of his Rime of the Ancient Mariner, makes the 
mariner thus allude to the rising moon : 

The horned Moon with one bright star 
Within the nether tip. 

And again, it is said that Marryat, sea-captain though he 
was, wrote of a waning crescent moon seen in the early 
evening; and Sir H. Rider Haggard in King Solomon's 
Mines J Chapter IX., hints at a full moon seen in the 
west soon after sunset, thus: "The sun sank and the 
world was wreathed in shadows. But not for long, for 
see in the west there is a glow, then come rays of silver 
light, and at last the full and glorious moon lights up the 
plain." Furthermore, Baroness Orczy, in Petticoat 
Ruhj Chapter VIII., pictures "a fair crescent moon, 
chaste and cold," appearing "far away to the east, 



340 The Call of the Stars 

beyond the grim outline of cedar and poplar trees, " at 
eleven o'clock on a June evening. 

In common with other celestial objects, the Moon 
looks larger when near the horizon than when high up 
in the sky ; the enlargement is, however, only apparent, 
not real, and is entirely an illusion. And again, in the 
later months of the year, when there is more mist and 
fog than in summer, it usually looks red. In his 
Prometheus, Lowell thus writes : 

And I looked 
And saw the red moon through the heavy mist, 
Just setting, and it seemed as it were falling, 
Or reeling to its fall, so dim and dead 
And palsy-struck it looked. 

In popular belief November nth, St. Martin's Day, 
marks the beginning of that delightful balmy season 
known as Indian Summer, and according to tradition, 
if the weather is fair throughout the twenty-four hours 
of that day, the winter will be long and cold, but if the 
day turns stormy, the months to follow will be mild. 
Another prevalent belief is that if it rains on July 
15th, St. Swithin's Day, rain may be expected for forty 
days thereafter. An equally rational and oft-repeated 
prognostic is that a very good year may be expected 
if Christmas comes during a waxing moon, and a rather 
hard one if it comes during a waning moon. 

Owing to the eastward motion of the Moon in its 
orbit, a daily retardation of the Moon's rising and 
setting occurs, the average value of which is fifty and a 
half minutes. The actual retardation, however, is 
extremely variable, depending upon the latitude of the 
place of observation and the position of the Moon in its 
orbit. Roughly speaking, it varies in middle latitudes 



The Moon 341 

from less than half an hour to an hour and a quarter. 
By reason of this variation in the daily retardation of 
the Moon's rising, there occur what are known as the 
Harvest Moon and the Hunter's Moon. The Harvest 
Moon, known also as the Shepherd's moon, is the full 
moon which comes nearest to the autumnal equinox, 
September 23d, and its peculiarity is that it rises very 
nearly at the same hour for several successive nights, 
immediately after sunset, and each night rises farther 
north of east. The phenomenon is due to the small 
inclination of the path of the full moon to the horizon, 
at that time of the year. The full moon next follow- 
ing the harvest moon is the Hunter's Moon, and will 
usually fall in October. 

Since the full moon is always opposite the Sun, it 
follows that when the Sun is in the most southern part 
of its apparent orbit (as in midwinter) the Moon is 
found in the most northern part of its orbit, and when, 
on the other hand, the Sun is in the most northern part 
of its apparent orbit (as in midsummer), the Moon is 
then in the most southern part of its orbit. Thus the 
full moon in winter in the northern hemisphere rides 
high in the sky, and remains a long time above the 
horizon, while in summer it is proportionately low, and 
remains a much shorter time above the horizon. In 
consequence, the Earth's northern hemisphere receives 
a maximum amount of moonlight in winter and a 
minimum amount of it in summer. 

When the Moon is full it presents to most observers 
the aspect of a lugubrious, masculine face — the "Man 
in the Moon," who, according to Dante, is Cain — while 
others see, in addition, the profile of a beautiful woman 
— the "Lady in the Moon." Some people find a don- 
key, and a crab, and others a girl reading; then again, 



342 The Call of the Stars 

others have seen there a Hon, a dog, and in particular a 
hare. In Plate XXXI., reproduced by permission from 
W. H. Pickering's The Moon, are given sketches of 
the full moon by various persons showing what they 
fancied they saw with their unaided eye : i . The Face ; 
2. The Crab; 3. The Girl Reading ; 4. The Donkey; 
5. The Lady; 6. An Astronomer's Drawing. The 
head of the woman will usually be seen on the extreme 
right or western half of the Moon, with the face, which 
is bright, tiimed toward the left or east, across the 
disk, although at times it is in the lower right-hand 
comer, with the face looking upwards. The outlines 
of the forehead, nose, mouth, and chin are formed by 
the Sea of Showers, or Mare Imbrium, and the Sea of 
Clouds, or Mare Nubium, and the figure is best seen 
with the aid of an opera-glass of low power. Perhaps 
the most interesting of all the faces is that of the 
"moon-maiden," with long floating hair, looking out 
from the Heraclides Promontory, the eastern cape of 
the beautiful Bay of Rainbows, or Sinus Iridum, across 
the great Sea of Showers. Unfortunately, however, it 
can only be seen with the aid of the telescope, and only 
when the Sim is shining properly upon it. Shakespeare, 
in The Tempest, Act II., Scene 2, makes reference to the 
Man in the Moon, when Caliban and Stephano are 
conversing with each other, thus: 

Caliban: Hast thou not dropped from heaven? 

Stephano: Out o' the moon, I do assure thee, I was the 
man in the moon, when time was. 

Caliban: I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee; 
my mistress showed me thee, and thy dog and bush. 

The Moon is most interesting not at full, but rather 
at about the time of the first quarter, when the details 



The Moon 343 

of objects on the lunar surface are brought into clear 
relief by their shadows. In even a large opera-glass or 
prism binocular, the ill-defined dark markings which to 
the naked eye, at full moon, seemed to make up the 
picture of a lugubrious face are changed and show up as 
the shadows of great mountains. When viewed with a 
telescope of moderate size, the lunar globe appears as a 
great, round, silvery ball, marked here and there with 
extensive dark areas, and pitted all over with crater- 
like formations. If observed at or near the full, curious 
systems of bright streaks or luminous rays radiating 
in every direction from certain well-marked centres will 
be seen, one of which, the magnificent system which 
radiates from the great crater-mountain Tycho, near 
the Moon's south pole, is so conspicuous, that along 
with the dark-hued plains or *'seas" it makes the full 
moon bear some resemblance to a badly-peeled orange. 

Speaking roughly, the various types of formations 
which diversify the Moon are its large, low-lying, 
grey plains, its walled plains, and its circular or ap- 
proximately circular formations, generally known as 
"craters," its mountain ranges and isolated mountains, 
its deep narrow clefts and rills, and its curious system 
of bright rays. 

The great grey plains, here and there marked by 
winding ridges and small crater-like formations, and 
commonly known as maria or "seas," occupy about 
one-third of the visible lunar surface and are found 
mainly in the northern hemisphere. They receive the 
name of maria because the earlier selenographers be- 
lieved they were really lunar seas, and though they 
have no right to the title, the designation has been 
retained to this day. The one that appears to be most 
perfectly enclosed is the Mare Crisium (the Sea of 



344 The Call of the Stars 

Crises), in the north-west quadrant of the Moon. It is 
about 360 miles in width from east to west and 280 
miles in length, and has an area of nearly 70,000 square 
miles. It may often be distinguished without optical 
aid, and is sometimes clearly seen by daylight. The 
other maria, with the exception of the comparatively 
small Mare Humorum (the Sea of Humours), are only 
partially bounded, being connected with each other 
as are the oceans on the Earth. 

The most important of the large maria is the vast 
Mare Procellarum (the Sea of Storms). It extends 
along the eastern side of the disk and has an area of 
nearly two million square miles. In the north-east 
quadrant is the great greyish Mare Imbrium (the Sea 
of Showers). Besides the Mare Crisium, in the north- 
west quadrant, toward the centre of the lunar disk is 
the Mare Vaporum (the Sea of Vapours), while ad- 
joining it are the Mare Tranquillitatis (the Sea of Calm) 
and the Mare Serenitatis (the Sea of Serenity), the 
Lacus Somnorum (the Lake of Dreams) lying to the 
north and west again of the Mare Serenitatis. In 
the south-west quadrant lie the Mare Fecunditatis (the 
Sea of Fertility), and the Mare Nectaris (the Sea of 
Nectar), while in the south-east quadrant, between the 
Mare Imbrium and the middle of the Moon, lies the 
Mare Nubium (the Sea of Clouds). Near the north 
pole is situated the Mare Frigoris (the Sea of Cold), 
exceedingly elongated laterally. The larger so-called 
gulfs of the "seas" are the Sinus Roris of the Mare 
Procellarum and the celebrated Sinus Iridum of the 
Mare Imbrium. 

The most striking features of the Moon are its crater- 
like formations and walled plains, which have, as a rule, 
been named after celebrated persons, usually men of 



The Moon 345 

science. By some they are supposed to have been of 
volcanic origin, and by others to have been formed by 
explosions of vast accumulations of gas in the interior 
of the Moon; their real origin, however, is unknown. 
Some 33,000 have been mapped, and according to 
W. H. Pickering the total number visible under favour- 
able conditions exceeds 200,000. The walled plains have 
a diameter of from 45 to 150 miles, and are encircled 
by an irregular and often interrupted boundary, which 
in some cases rises to the height of about 12,000 feet 
above the enclosed plains. The interior is, as a rule, 
comparative!}^ flat, or diversified by the presence of a 
few minute craters and irregular mountains. Most of 
the walled plains lie in the southern hemisphere of 
the Moon, where quite often several are found close 
together in a row. 

The lunar craters, so-called, have a smaller diameter 
than the walled plains, and are usually made up of a 
ringlike wall, enclosing a central plain or "floor," which 
is often much depressed below the outside level. On 
the floors of the larger craters, numerous pits or cra- 
terlets are found, and not infrequently central peaks 
rise to the height of the crater- walls. Like the walled 
plains, the craters are seen in greatest numbers in the 
southern hemisphere, the surface in the region of the 
Moon's pole being literally riddled with pits and holes. 

The craters vary greatly in size, the largest being 
nearly one hundred miles in diameter, and the smallest 
discernible, less than half a mile. The largest known 
terrestrial volcanic crater, Aso San in Japan, does not 
exceed seven miles in diameter, while the number of 
those on the Moon which exceed seven miles can be 
counted by hundreds. One of the larger lunar craters— 
the great walled-plain Ptolemseus — located near the 



346 The Call of the Stars 

centre of the visible hemisphere, is about 115 miles 
across, while in one of its peaks it rises to the height of 
more than 9000 feet above the enclosed plain. Shick- 
ard, close to the south-eastern border, is about 134 
miles in diameter, and its walls rise in one point to over 
10,000 feet, while Clavius, near the southern edge of 
the IMoon, measures no less than 143 miles in its greatest 
length, and has a depth of two and a half miles. One 
of the peaks upon its walls rises to a height of 17,000 
feet. Clavius is remarkable for the number of small 
craters associated with it, and is looked upon by many 
as the most variedly beautiful and impressive of all the 
lunar formations. 

On the eastern boundary of the Mare Procellarum 
is the dark oval called Grimaldi, one of the largest 
wall-surrounded plains on the Moon. It extends 148 
miles from north to south, and 129 from east to west, 
and covers an area of about 14,000 square miles. It is 
the darkest spot on the lunar surface, the radiant 
Aristarchus — about twenty-eight miles in diameter — 
being the brightest. One of the most interesting 
craters is Theophilus, situated on the southern border 
of the Mare Tranquillitatis. It is a large ringed 
plain about sixty-four miles across, and from 16,000 
to 19,000 feet deep, and has an area of about 3200 
square miles. Some of the peaks upon its ramparts 
rise 18,000 feet above the crater floor. One of the 
cone-shaped mountains in its centre is 6000 feet 
high, yet its summit is some 4000 feet lower than 
the level of the outside plain. It is probably the 
most perfect and deepest ring-mountain on the Moon. 
When the Moon is five to seven days old or eighteen to 
twenty days old, the superb triple group of walled 
plains formed by Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catharina 



The Moon 347 

may be clearly distinguished by a prism binocular 
field-glass. 

Near the northern edge of the Moon may be seen a 
dark oval spot — the great walled plain Plato (Plate 
XXX.). It is a coneless crater, about sixty miles 
across, and is easily recognised at full moon. Scattered 
about on its decidedly convex floor, are some thirty or 
more small craters. On the western border of the Mare 
Fecunditatis is Langrenus, a m^agnificent walled plain, 
with walls from 8000 to 10,000 feet high. It is about 
ninety miles in diameter, and its central peak is over 
3000 feet in height. The crater Gassendi, in the south- 
east quadrant, is fifty-eight miles in diameter, and about 
8000 feet deep. It comes into view about three or four 
days before full moon. 

The brilliant round crater Tycho, not far from the 
Moon's south pole, is almost sixty miles in diameter, 
and its crater wall rises to a height of over 16,000 feet. 
Its central, cone-shaped mountain is between 5000 and 
6000 feet high. Tycho is the most famous of the crater 
mountains, and forms a brilliant breast-pin for the 
"Lady in the Moon." It is connected with the most 
remarkable of ray systems, and has been called by 
Webb the "metropolitan crater of the moon." Within 
a few days of full moon, the crater and the bright rays 
constitute the most striking feature of the whole lunar 
surface, and can even be seen by the unaided eye. The 
rays at that time traverse almost one-fourth of the 
visible lunar disk, radiating from the crater, like spokes 
from the hub of a wheel. Around its massive and reg- 
ular ramparts lie a large number of formations, part of 
which are somewhat irregular structures, and part walled 
plains. Moreover, in its region may be seen a large 
number of crater-like depressions and crater cavities. 



348 The Call of the Stars 

Perhaps, the grandest of lunar craters is the great 
ring-plain known as Copernicus (Plate XXIX.) It 
measures about sixty miles across and is situated 
toward the eastern edge of the lunar disk, on the tip 
of the nose of the "Man in the Moon," between the 
Showery, Stormy, and Cloudy Seas. Like Plato, it is 
distinguished for its system of bright rays, as well as 
for its massive and regular ramparts, which are crowned 
by a number of bright peaks, one of which attains the 
height of 14,800 feet. Inside the not quite circular 
walls, near the centre of the crater floor, are four or five 
cone-shaped mountains, the centre one of which is over 
11,000 feet high. The numberless bright streaks sur- 
rounding Copernicus rival in splendour the magnificent 
system which radiates from Tycho, though the latter 
are by far the most noteworthy. During the last cen- 
tury one Httle crater known as Linne (Plate XXX.), 
seen as a white spot in the Mare Serenitatis, has 
seemed to undergo slight changes, and is even reported 
by some to have been invisible for a time. Whether 
the suspected changes have been merely illusions due 
to variable illumination, or are a reality, has not been 
definitely decided. 

Although the majority of the lunar elevations assume 
the crateriform aspect, a number of long and lofty 
ranges of mountains, resembling terrestrial mountains, 
exist on the Moon. The lunar mountains, it may be 
noted, are not only relatively but actually higher than 
those of the Earth. Mt. Everest, the giant of the 
Himalayas, the loftiest mountain in the world, is only 
a trifle more than 29,000 feet high, while several peaks 
of the Leibnitz Mountains on the extreme southern 
edge of the lunar disk are nearly 30,000 feet, and one 
peak is even said to be 36,000 feet in height. There are 



'JHHHHHHHHHIHHH 


ID 




1 




1 




^Bl^^h 


flulHl^^B 


Ih 



Yerkes Observatory 

Plate XXIX. The Great Lunar Crater Copernicus 



The Moon 349 

more than forty lunar mountains that are higher than 
is Mt. McKinley, Alaska, the highest peak in North 
America, its height being only 20,464 feet. Of the 
larger mountain ranges, most of which are named after 
terrestrial mountains, the best known are the Lunar 
Apennines, the Lunar Alps, the Lunar Caucasus, the 
Lunar Carpathians, the Lunar Pyrenees, the Leibnitz, 
and the Doerfel Mountains. They are best viewed 
when the moon is in its first or last quarter. 

The Lunar Apennines (Plate XXX.) named by 
Galileo after the Apennines of Italy, are the greatest 
and most impressive of the larger mountain ranges. 
They are upwards of four hundred miles in length, and 
while many of the peaks are from 12,000 to 20,000 feet 
high, one in particular attains to the height of 22,000 
feet. They run in a north-west and south-east direc- 
tion, along the border of the Mare Imbrium, and at 
first quarter form a magnificent spectacle. At the time 
of full moon, the Apennine range can be seen quite 
well with the unaided eye, and it makes the nose of the 
*' Man in the Moon. " The Lunar Caucasus — separated 
from the northern end of the Lunar Apennines by a 
broad path connecting the Mare Serenitatis with the 
Mare Imbrium — are a mass of highlands and peaks, 
trending to the west, the highest peak being about 
18,300 feet high. The Lunar Alps, on the north-west 
border of the Mare Imbrium, attain a height of 11,900 
feet, and at their eastern end rises the great walled 
plain, Plato. They are notable for the wonderful 
Alpine Valley, a chasm which runs through the range 
in a straight line for upwards of eighty miles. The 
Valley is about two miles wide at its narrowest point, 
and about six at its widest, and is an easy object in a 
two-inch instrument. Among the other mountain 



350 The Call of the Stars 

ranges may be mentioned the Lunar Carpathians, 
6400 feet in height, to the west of the Mare Procellarum, 
and close to the great crater Copernicus, the Lunar 
Pyrenees, 11,900 feet high, on the western edge of the 
Mare Nectaris, and the Altai Mountains, 13,300 feet 
in height and 280 miles in length, in the south-west 
quadrant. At the southern edge of the Moon, are the 
Leibnitz and Doerfel Mountains, which, so far as 
known, embrace the loftiest peaks on the visible lunar 
surface. 

In addition to the craters, mountains, and grey 
plains, there are on the lunar surface other interesting 
features known as rays and rills. The rills are fissures 
or rents, from ten to three hundred miles or more in 
length, about a quarter of a mile in depth, and from 
less than half a mile to more than two miles in width. 
They extend in approximately straight lines, frequently 
traversing walled plains and craters, without any appar- 
ent interruption. Among the most conspicuous of these 
strange chasms are the Serpentine Valley of Herodotus, 
the well-known Ariadaeus and Hyginus clefts, and the 
deep sharp cleft crossing the floor of Petavius. They 
are believed to be simply open cracks in the lunar 
surface, caused by the surface splitting as it cooled 
down and became too small for its interior. 

The rays are long light-coloured streaks, which radi- 
ate from several of the principal craters in all directions, 
and are not well seen except at or near full moon. They 
extend in some cases to a distance of some hundreds of 
miles, passing across valley and mountain, and at full 
moon, rendering some of even the larger craters, such 
as the great crater-plains Clavius and Maginus, almost 
unidentifiable. They appear to be neither elevated 
nor depressed with reference to the general lunar sur- 




Paris Observatory 

Plate XXX. The Lunar Apennines, Alps, and Caucasus 

(Image inverted as in astronomical telescopes) 



The Moon 351 

face, and are ordinarily from five to ten miles in width. 
The ray system connected with Tycho is by far the 
most noteworthy, although those in connection with 
Copernicus and Kepler are very striking. As to their 
origin and nature little is known. By some it is sup- 
posed that they were originally great cracks caused by 
internal pressure, which have been filled, either with 
lighter coloured material forced up from below, or with 
a whitish powder emitted by the craters from which the 
rays issue. 

From earliest times, in all quarters of the world, the 
cold chaste Moon has been an easy and favourite sub- 
ject for myth making. There have been seen in it by 
every age and race, a "Man in the Moon," a "Woman 
in the Moon, " a "Hare in the Moon, " and so on, while 
various and innumerable have been the legends regard- 
ing them. According to Teutonic legend the Man in 
the Moon was an old wood-cutter, who while travelling 
on Sunday with a bundle of sticks on his back was met 
by a fairy who stopped him and remonstrated with him 
for working on the Sabbath. He laughed and replied, 
"Sunday on earth, or Monday in heaven, it's all one to 
me ! " " Then carry your bundle for ever ! ' ' she answered ; 
"and as you regard not Sunday on Earth, you shall 
stand for eternity in the Moon!" Thereupon, as the 
fairy vanished, the wood-cutter was caught up with his 
bundle into the Moon, where he still stands. 

In Gyffyn Church, near Conway in Wales, there is 
a pictorial representation of the Sabbath-breaker, in 
which the moon is depicted as a big round disk in which 
is the man with his bundle of sticks. According to a 
Dutch myth, the Man in the Moon was transported 
there for steaHng cabbages on Christmas Eve. An 
Indian legend regarding the dark spots on the Moon is 



352 The Call of the Stars 

told in Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha, Chapter III., 
where little Hiawatha 

Saw the moon rise from the water, 
Rippling, rounding from the water, 
Saw the flecks and shadows on it, 
Whispered, "What is that, Nokomis?" 
And the good Nokomis answered, 
" Once a warrior, very angry. 
Seized his grandmother, and threw her 
Up into the sky at midnight; 
Right against the moon he threw her; 
'Tis her body that you see there." 

In Greek legend there is a pretty little story of 
Selene (the Moon), and Endymion, a beautiful youth 
renowned for his perpetual sleep. As the story runs, 
while the latter slept on Latmus, a mountain in Caria, 
whither he had come from Elis, Selene, charmed by his 
surprising beauty, came down to him from the sky, and 
kissed him. Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice, 
Act v., Scene I., thus albides to this episode: 

Peace, ho! the moon sleeps with Endymion, 
And would not be awaked! 

In the British Museum there is a beautiful statue of 
a sleeping Endymion. 

There is a Buddhist legend, according to which the 
god Indra, while walking through the woods disguised as 
a Brahman, met a monkey, a fox, and a hare travelHng 
together, and pretending to be starving, asked them for 
something to eat. The three at once started off in search 
for food, the monkey bringing back a bunch of mangoes, 
and the fox a pot of milk he had stolen, the hare alone 
returning from the quest imsuccessful. Not wishing to 




From W. H. Pickering's The Moon 

Plate XXXI. Lunar Fancies 



The Moon 353 

appear lacking in hospitality, the hare said to the Brah- 
man, '*If you are very, very hungry, light a fire and 
roast and eat me." ''All right," said the Brahman, "I'll 
kindle a fire at the foot of this rock and you jump off 
into it." Immediately the fire was built, the hare 
leapt in, but was snatched from the flames by the god, 
and in reward for his heroic self-sacrifice was placed 
in the Moon, where he may be seen to this day. 

Among some Indian tribes, a legend exists that the 
dark spots on the Moon represent a little child carrying 
a basket. The myth relates that the child cried out 
in the night for water, but the mother, tired and sleepy, 
heeded not its cry. Whereupon, the Moon, who felt 
sorry for the child, appeared with a pot of water from 
heaven, and said, "Here, little one, is water to drink." 
The child eagerly drank the water and was then carried 
by the Moon up into the sky, taking with her the little 
basket she held in her hand. In Chinese legend, the 
Man in the Moon is known as Yuelao, and is supposed 
to govern marriages. Such young men and maidens as 
he desires to make husband and wife are tied together 
with an invisible silken cord, which is not severed until 
death. Verily, as suggested by Harley in his Moon- 
lore, Yuelao must be the man in the * 'honey-moon." 

One of the chapels adjoining the principal building 
of the Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, Peru, was conse- 
crated to the Moon, who was acknowledged as the 
sister- wife of the Sun, and was the deity held next in 
reverence, as the mother of the Incas. Her efifigy 
was delineated on a vast plate of silver, that nearly 
covered one side of the apartment. In Babylonian 
mythology, the Moon took precedence of the Sun, and 
was the first among divinities. In Greece the Moon 
became Selene, and with the Romans was identified 
23 



354 The Call of the Stars 

with the goddess Diana. Thus Ben Jonson in his 
hymn to Cynthia wrote: 

Queen and huntress chaste and fair, 
Seated in thy silver chair, 
Now the Sun is laid to sleep, 
State in wonted manner keep. 

One of the most common superstitions concerning 
the Moon is the expectation of good luck if the new 
moon be first seen over the right shoulder. It is nar- 
rated by Aubrey that the Scotchwomen in his time 
made a curtsey to the new moon, and that it was 
customary in England for rustic belles, as soon as they 
saw the first new moon after midsummer, to go to a 
gate or stile, turn their back to it, or sit astride, and 
say: 

All hail, new moon, all hail to thee! 
I prithee, good moon, reveal to me 
This night who shall my true love be; 
Who is he, and what he wears, 
And what he does all months and years. 

A dream is expected to follow, giving the information 
so greatly desired. 

Halliwell mentions a prayer, customary with some 
persons, which runs as follows : 

I see the moon and the moon sees me, 
God bless the moon, and God bless me. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE ECLirSES 

Virgil, in his second Georgic, in his petition to the Muses, writes: 

"Give me the ways of wand'ring stars to know, 
The depths of heav'n above, and earth below, 
Teach me the various labours of the Moon, 
And whence proceed Eclipses of the Sun." 

The eclipses of the Sun and the Moon, otherwise 
known as the solar and the lunar eclipses, are among 
the most impressive and magnificent of all the phe- 
nomena of the heavens. They are produced only when 
the new moon or the full moon is at or very near one of 
the nodes — that is one of the two points where the plane 
of the lunar orbit intersects the plane of the ecliptic, or 
of the Earth's orbit. Were the orbits of theEarth and the 
Moon exactly in the same plane or level, an eclipse would 
happen every time the Moon was new or full, or about 
twenty-five times a year. As a matter of fact, however, 
the plane of the Moon's orbit is inclined to the plane of 
the Earth's orbit at an angle of about 5°, which in 
popular language is an elevation of nearly nine in a 
hundred ; and besides, the Moon's nodes are not station- 
ary, but have a daily retrograde motion of 3' 10.64^', 
owing to the attraction of the Sun on the Earth and 
Moon, The motion of the nodes backward or west- 

^55 



356 The Call of the Stars 

ward on the ecliptic resembles that of the equinoxes, 
only it is much more rapid, the entire circuit of the 
celestial sphere being completed in a little less than 
nineteen years. As a result of this backward motion 
of the Moon's nodes, the eclipses occur, on an average, 
about nineteen days earher every year than they did 
the year previous. 

The average time required by the Moon to journey 
in its orbit, from one node back to that node again, 
is 2^] days, 5 hours, 5 minutes, and 35.81 seconds, 
which constitutes what has been called the nodical or 
draconitic month. Since 242 draconitic months very 
nearly equal 223 s3modic months, being about eighteen 
years, eleven and a third days, and both are nearly equal 
to nineteen eclipse years — ^an eclipse year being the time 
occupied by the Sun in passing from a node to the same 
node again — it follows that after the lapse of that 
interval Sun, Moon, and nodes will be in very nearly 
the same relative position again. If, then, an eclipse 
should occur at a given date, a very similar eclipse will 
occur again at the end of eighteen years, eleven days, and 
eight hours, but not on the same part of the Earth's 
surface. This recurrence of solar and lunar eclipses 
after intervals of about 18.03 years is known as the 
Saws, and tradition points to the Chaldeans as its 
discoverers, more than twenty-five hundred years ago. 
The usual number of eclipses in this space of time is 
about seventy-one, of which twenty-nine are of the 
Moon and forty -two of the Sun. The greatest possible 
number of eclipses in any one year is seven, five solar 
and two lunar, or four solar and three lunar, and the 
least is two, in which case both will be solar. The 
usual number of eclipses, however, is four, two of which 
are solar and two lunar. There will be seven eclipses 



The Eclipses 357 

(a somewhat rare occurrence) in 19 17, four of which 
will be of the Sun and three of the Moon. In 1935, also, 
there will be seven eclipses, five of the Sun and two of 
the Moon. 

Eclipses of the Sun — that is, eclipses caused by the 
Moon's shadow falling on the Earth — take place at the 
time of new moon, and always come on from the west 
or right-hand side, and pass over eastward; while 
eclipses of the Moon — that is, eclipses caused by the im- 
mersion of the Moon in the shadow of the Earth — occur 
at the time of full moon, and come on from the east and 
pass over westward. The solar eclipse limits, or the 
distances on each side of the node within which a solar 
eclipse may happen, vary from 15!° to i8i° in either 
direction; and the lunar eclipse limits, or the distances 
on each side of the node within which a lunar eclipse 
may occur, vary from 9^° to I2j° in either direction. 
The proportion of the solar eclipses to the lunar eclipses 
is about as three to two. There are, however, more 
visible eclipses of the Moon at any given place on the 
Earth's surface than of the Sun, because a lunar eclipse 
is visible over the whole unillumined hemisphere of the 
earth, while the region in which a total solar eclipse is 
visible never exceeds 165 miles in breadth, although for 
about 2000 miles on either side of the track of totality 
the Sun may be seen partially eclipsed. Not infre- 
quently a lunar eclipse takes place about fifteen days 
before or after a solar one. 

Lunar eclipses are of two kinds, total and partial; 
total when the Moon is completely immersed in the 
Earth's shadow, and the whole lunar disk is darkened 
(Plate XXXII.), and partial when a portion of the lunar 
disk remains outside of the true shadow, so that only a 
part of the disk is darkened. At the average distance 



358 The Call of the Stars 

of the Moon from the Earth, the diameter of the shadow 
is a Httle over 5700 miles. When the Moon passes 
through the centre of the Earth's shadow, the ecHpse 
may continue total for about two hours, the interval 
between the first and the last contact being about two 
hours additional. On account of the refraction of 
the solar rays in traversing the Earth's atmosphere, the 
Moon is, usually, not totally invisible, and yet in the 
lunar eclipse of 1884 it was, for a time, absolutely 
invisible to the naked eye. Ordinarily the eclipsed 
Moon shines with a pale coppery light, owing, it is 
believed, to the fact that the blue and green rays are 
absorbed by the atmosphere. Sometimes, however, the 
lunar surface has a greyish-blue tinge, as in the phe- 
nomenon known as the "black eclipse." There are 
two or three eclipses of the Moon every year, of which 
one at least is nearly always total. Every inhabitant 
of the Earth, therefore, may be in a position to see, on an 
average, half of all the total lunar eclipses that happen 
during his lifetime; not so, however, with the total 
solar eclipses, which are relatively rare phenomena. 
It is found that a total eclipse of the Sun happens at 
any given place on the Earth's surface only once in 
about every three hundred years. Though by no 
means so important as a total solar eclipse, a total 
lunar eclipse is yet one of the most interesting and 
beautiful sights in the sky. 

The earliest lunar eclipse of which there is any 
authentic record is that mentioned by Ptolemy as 
having been observed at Babylon on March 19, 721 
B.C. In his Life of Nicias, Plutarch relates that when 
the Athenian general, then in feeble health, prepared 
in 413 B.C. to return to Greece, after an unsuccessful 
siege of Syracuse in Sicily, a total eclipse of the Moon 




Yerkes Observatory 

Plate XXXII. Total Eclipse of the Moon, Feb. 8, 1906 




U. S. Naval Obseivatory, Washington 

Plate XXXIII. Morehouse's Comet, Nov. 13, 1908 



The Eclipses 359 

happened. Fearing the maHgn influence of the phe- 
nomenon, Nicias unfortunately delayed his departure, 
and lost the chance of retreat. He was defeated in a 
decisive battle by the Syracusans, and both he and 
Demosthenes, who had been sent with reinforcements 
from Athens, were captured and put to death. Thus 
the superstition of Nicias cost him his life, and led to 
the destruction of his whole army, which marked the 
commencement of the decadence of Athens. On 
September 15, in the year 5 B.C., a total lunar eclipse 
took place, which is supposed to be the one recorded by 
Josephus as having occurred a little before the death 
of Herod. It is of more than ordinary importance as 
serving to determine the date of the birth of Christ. 

The total lunar eclipse which happened soon after 
sunset on March i, 1504, is celebrated as having most 
excellently served the purposes of Christopher Colum- 
bus in the island of Jamaica, when the venerable 
admiral and his people were in absolute distress for 
food. The contumacious natives had refused to longer 
supply him with provisions, in the hope either of 
starving him or of driving him from the island. Being 
aware that a total eclipse of the Moon would shortly 
occur, he announced to them, on the day of the eclipse, 
that the great Deity of which he and his followers were 
worshippers, was incensed against those who had refused 
to furnish his faithful worshippers with provisions, and 
intended to chastise them with famine and pestilence. 
As a sign of the anger of heaven, and in testimony of the 
fearful punishment which awaited them, he told the 
natives they would that very night behold the Moon 
change its colour and gradually lose its light. When the 
phenomenon took place as predicted, the savages were 
so terrified that they came in a body and implored him 



360 The Call of the Stars 

to intercede with his God to withhold the threatened 
calamities, assuring him that they would henceforth 
bring him supplies as much as he needed. Columbus 
shut himself up in his cabin, as if to commune with 
the Deity, and when the eclipse was about to diminish, 
he came forth and informed the natives that his God 
had deigned to pardon them, on condition of their 
fulfilling their promises, and in token of which he would 
withdraw the darkness from the face of the Moon. 
From that time forward there was no failure in the 
regular supply of provisions to the Spaniards. The 
great navigator when he perpetrated this "pious fraud'* 
was about sixty-eight years of age. 

One of the best examples of a dark eclipse is that 
observed at Stockholm on May 18, 1761. According 
to Wargentin, the lunar disk on that occasion dis- 
appeared so completely that it could not be discovered 
even with a telescope. 

As instancing the superstition connected with eclipses 
still existing among ignorant peoples, it is said that 
during the lunar eclipse of February 2^, ^^11, the 
natives of Laos, Indo-China, amidst terrific yells, fired 
shots at the eclipsed Moon, in order to frighten off the 
black dragon whom they imagined was devouring it. 

Solar eclipses are of three kinds — total, partial, and 
annular. A total solar eclipse (Plate XXIII.) takes 
place when the Moon is exactly in line with the Earth 
and Sun, at the time of its least distance from the Earth, 
and its disk just covers that of the Sun. When the 
Moon is at its greatest distance from the Earth, as it 
passes centrally over the Sun, it does not entirety cover 
the Sun, but leaves an uneclipsed ring or "annulus'* 
around it, and thus produces what is known as an 
annular or "ring-formed" eclipse. A partial eclipse 



The Eclipses 361 

occurs when the Moon is not exactly in line with the 
Earth and Sun, and only covers a part of the Sun's disk. 

In a total solar eclipse, than which no phenomenon 
of nature is more impressive, the time which elapses 
from the moment when the edge of the Moon first 
touches the western edge of the Sun, until the eclipse 
becomes total, is about one hour. Under the most 
favourable conditions possible, a total solar eclipse may 
continue total, at any given point, for not more than 
seven minutes and fifty-eight seconds, while the longest 
possible duration of an annular eclipse, at any selected 
point, is twelve minutes and twenty-four seconds. 
Ordinarily the time that the Moon covers the whole 
face of the Sun is from two to four minutes. About an 
hour after the total or annular phase, the Moon's disk, 
which has been making its way steadily across the face 
of the Sun, finally leaves the solar disk, and the eclipse 
of the great luminary is over. 

Just before the eclipse becomes total, it may be 
noticed that, when viewed through the telescope, the 
gradually diminishing crescent of Sun, instead of van- 
ishing all at once, seems to resolve itself into a series of 
brilliant dots called "Baily's Beads, " from their resem- 
blance to a string of glittering beads. No sooner are 
these so-called beads formed, however, than one after 
another they rapidly disappear. They are supposed 
to be bits of sunlight shooting up between such of the 
lunar mountain peaks, as happen at the time to line the 
advancing edge of the Moon, and were first systemati- 
cally described by the English astronomer Francis 
Baily in 1836. About five minutes before totality, 
strange, ill-defined, wavy streaks of light, called 
"shadow bands, " may be seen chasing each other across 
the landscape. With the disappearance of the solar 



362 The Call of the Stars 

globe there suddenly spring into view, skirting the black 
rim of the Moon, those important accompaniments of 
the Sun, known as the Solar Corona, the Chromosphere, 
and the Solar Prominences, which have been treated 
of at length in Chapter III. During the total obscura- 
tion of the Sun, the sky puts on a dark, lurid appearance, 
and a few of the brighter stars and planets may be seen. 
As at nightfall, birds often cease their songs and fly 
anxiously to their nests, chickens go to roost, flowers 
close up, the temperature declines, and dew frequently 
falls. Suddenly, the brilliant disk of the sun springs 
into view again at the other side, and the landscape 
glows with the returning light, while the corona and 
prominences, the most interesting and most striking 
sights of the eclipse, fade away. 

In olden times, eclipses were, and among unenlight- 
ened people still are, looked upon with feelings of in- 
describable terror, as indications of the anger of heaven, 
or as presages of impending calamities. The eclipses 
of the Sun have been regarded with more superstitious 
fear and awe than have those of the Moon, while both 
have played a not unimportant part in the world's 
history. On more than one occasion has the great 
terror inspired by an imexpected eclipse halted armies 
on their march, called off impending battles, and ren- 
dered combatants eager to come to terms of peace. 
Herodotus records that a total solar eclipse stopped a 
battle in the war between the Medes and Lydians, and 
so disturbed the contending parties that they retired 
each to their own country. This eclipse, which is said 
to have been predicted by the Ionic philosopher Thales 
of Miletus, and was therefore known as the "Eclipse of 
Thales," seems to have occurred on May 28, 585 B.C. 
Xenophon relates in his Anabasis the tradition that 



The Eclipses 3^3 

when the Persian king, Cyrus, besiged the city of Larissa 
(an ancient city on the eastern bank of the Tigris), 
but could not capture it, a total eclipse of the Sun oc- 
curred (557 B.C.), which created so great a consterna- 
tion among the inhabitants that they fled, and permitted 
the city to be taken. In the year 1030, an eclipse, gen- 
erally known as the "Eclipse of Stiklestad, " is said to 
have taken place during the naval battle at Stiklestad, 
near Trondhjem, in which the gallant Saint Olaf, King 
of Norway, was defeated and slain by the Danes. In 
his Saga of King Olaf, Chapter XIX, Longfellow has it 
that 

there in the mist overhead 
The Sun hung red 
As a drop of blood. 

There is an Indian tradition that a great war between 
the Mohawks and the Senecas, was averted by the 
timely interposition of heaven, through the total 
ecHpse of the Sun on June 2^, 145 1. It is related 
that during the total eclipse of July 29, 1878, many 
of the Indians at Fort Sill, in what is now "the boomer 
State" Oklahoma, became greatly frightened. Some 
threw themselves upon their knees and invoked divine 
blessing, others flung themselves prostrate on the ground 
face downwards, while not a few cried and yelled in 
frantic excitement and terror. At last an old Indian 
stepped from the door of his lodge, mumbled a few 
unintelligible words, and then fired a shot at the dark- 
ened Sun. As the totality ended about that time, the 
sun once more peeped forth, greatly to the relief of 
the terrified Indians, who firmly believed that the old 
brave's timely shot drove away the unholy shadow and 
saved the sun from extinction. 



364 The Call of the Stars 

Among the most notable eclipses of recent years are 
those of May 28, 1900, and of August 30, 1905. The 
track of totality of the former stretched from the west- 
em coast of Mexico, across the southern States, over the 
Atlantic, and then through Portugal and Spain into 
Africa. Its total phase lasted only for about a minute 
and a half. The track of the eclipse of August 30, 1905, 
stretched from Winnipeg across Labrador, and over the 
Atlantic, through Spain and across north Africa into 
Arabia. The next really favourable eclipse, that of 
August 21, 1914, will be a return, after one saros, of 
that of August 9, 1896. Its track of totality will stretch 
from Greenland through Norway and Sweden, and 
across Russia. A total solar eclipse is predicted for 
September 10, 1923. It will be a repetition of that of 
August 30, 1905. The longest total eclipse of the Sun 
on record will take place on June 20, 1955. It will be 
visible in the island of Luzon, and will last nearly eight 
minutes. 

According to the Nautical Almanac, the following 
eclipses will happen during the next six years: In 
the year 19 14, there will be four eclipses, two of the Sun, 
and two of the Moon. The eclipse of February 24th 
will be an annular eclipse of the Sun, and will be in- 
visible at Washington; that of March nth will be a 
partial eclipse of the Moon, and will be visible at 
Washington (mag. 0.916). The eclipse of August 20- 
21 will be a total eclipse of the Sun, Washington being 
just within the eclipse limits. The eclipse of Septem- 
ber 3-4 will be a partial eclipse of the Moon, invisible 
at Washington, but visible in western North America, 
the Pacific Ocean, Asia, and Australia (mag. 0.864). 

In the year 191 5, there will be two eclipses, both of 
the Sun, invisible at Washington. Both eclipses will be 



The Eclipses 365 

annular, and will occur, one on February 13th, and the 
other on August loth. 

In the year 191 6, there will be five ecHpses, three of 
the Sun and two of the Moon. The eclipse of January 
19th will be a partial eclipse of the Moon, visible in 
extreme western Europe, the north Atlantic Ocean, 
North and South America, the Pacific Ocean, and north- 
east Asia (mag. 0.137). The eclipse of February 3rd 
will be a total eclipse of the Sun, visible at Washington 
as a partial eclipse. The eclipse of July 14th will be a 
partial eclipse of the Moon, visible in Africa, south- 
western Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, North and South 
America, and the Pacific Ocean (mag. 0.800). The 
eclipse of July 29th will be an annular eclipse of the 
Sun, invisible at Washington, and the eclipse of Decem- 
ber 24th will be a partial eclipse of the Sun, also invisible 
at Washington. 

In the year 191 7, there will be seven eclipses, four of 
the Sun and three of the Moon, and in the year 191 8, 
there will be three eclipses, two of the Sun and one of 
the Moon. 

In the year 1919, there will be three eclipses, two of 
the Sun and one of the Moon. The eclipse of May 29th 
will be a total eclipse of the Sun, invisible in North 
America, but visible in South America and Africa. The 
eclipse of November 7th will be a partial eclipse of the 
Moon, visible in North America, except in the extreme 
western part. The eclipse of November 22d will be an 
annular eclipse of the Sun, visible as annular in Texas, 
and as a partial eclipse in the United States generally, 
except in the north-western part. 



CHAPTER VIII 

MARS AND THE PLANETOIDS 

Like Mercury and Venus, the planet Mars (Plate 
XXXIV.), the nearest planet to the Earth on the farther 
side, has been known from prehistoric times. During 
the last thirty -five years, however, it has been the arena, 
so to speak, of more speculation and controversy than 
any other member of the solar system. It is a ruddy 
little planet about 4230 miles in diameter, revolving 
around the Sun at an average^istance of 141,500,000 
miles in 686.9 mean solar days, which constitutes a 
Martian year. In consequence of the eccentricity 
of its orbit (0.093), which is greater than that of any 
other planet except Mercur}^ its distance from the Sun 
varies as much as 26,000,000 miles. At its nearest 
approach to that luminary, the planet is 128,000,000 
miles distant from it, and 154,000,000 miles when 
farthest away. Its motion varies in different portions 
of its orbit, but the average velocity is fifteen miles 
a second, and it travels over about four-tenths of a 
degree in the heavens in a day. It receives on the 
average less than half as much solar light and heat 
as does the Earth, though when the planet is near- 
est the Sun, it receives forty per cent, more heat and 
light than when at its greatest distance from it. 

By reason of its proximity to the Earth, Mars comeg 

366 




Yerkes Observatory 

Plate XXXIV. 



The Planet Mars, Region of 
Syrtis Major 
(Showing change due to rotation) 



Mars and the Planetoids 367 

into opposition every 780 days. This constitutes its 
synodic period, which is by far the longest in the 
planetary system. At the average opposition the 
planet approaches the Earth to within 48,600,000 miles. 
If an opposition occurs near the planet's perihelion, 
the distance is reduced to 35,000,000 miles, but if 
near aphelion, it is increased to 61,000,000 miles. At 
the time of conjunction the planet's distance from the 
Earth sometimes amounts to as much as 249,000,000 
miles. When Mars is at its minimum distance from 
the Earth, it is nearer than any other object in the 
night-sky, with the exception of the Moon, and at 
times Venus and Eros, and perhaps an occasional 
comet. It is then in a most favourable position for 
telescopic observation, and is more than fifty times as 
bright as at superior conjunction. At such times the 
red-faced planet has three times the brightness of Sirius, 
while when most remote it is hardly as bright as Polaris. 
It then shows in the telescope, with a power of seventy- 
five, a disk about as large as that of the Moon to the 
unaided eye. When in or near opposition its form is 
sensibly globular, but in other portions of its orbit it 
shows a slight phase, which is, however, never more than 
a dull gibbosity. 

The most favourable and brilHant oppositions always 
occur late in August or in the earl}^ part of September, 
and are repeated at alternate intervals of fifteen 
and seventeen years. The least favourable oppositions 
happen in February and March. The last brilHant 
perihelion opposition took place September 29, 1909, 
and the next exceptionally brilliant one will occur 
during the last week of August, 1924. And yet at some 
of the intervening oppositions (which occur nearly two 
years and two months apart), most interesting views 



368 The Call of the Stars 

of the planet's surface may be obtained. The planet 
will be in opposition in January, 19 14, and may be 
seen in the evening from then on until the following 
autumn. Early in 19 16 it will rise at sunset and will 
shine in the evening throughout the summer and fall. 
The next two oppositions will take place earl}^ in 19 18 
and 1920, and will be followed by a splendid one in the 
early summer of 1922. 

Mars rotates on its axis in 24 hours, 37 minutes, and 
22.65 seconds, which makes its day a trifle longer 
than a terrestrial one. The inclination of its axis 
to the plane of its orbit is about twenty-four de- 
grees and fifty minutes, or about one degree and 
twenty- three minutes more than that of the Earth's 
axis. The Martian seasons, therefore, correspond very 
closely to those of the Earth, but owing to the greater 
length of Mars' s year, they are almost twice as long, 
summer in the northern hemisphere lasting 381 days 
and winter 306 days. In the southern hemisphere the 
winter is longer than the summer, the former being 
longer and colder and the latter shorter and hotter than 
in the northern hemisphere. 

Mars, Hke the Earth, is slightly flattened at the poles 
(about -sio-) and bulged at the equator. Its mass is 
not much more than one-tenth (0.105) of the Earth's 
mass, and its surface is a little over one-fourth (0.285) 
as extensive as that of the Earth. The mean density 
of the planet is a trifle more than seven- tenths (0.71) 
that of the Earth, and its force of gravity about four- 
tenths (0.38). 

The atmosphere surrounding and enveloping Mars 
is probably far less dense than that of the Earth. On 
theoretical considerations it should hardly exceed one- 
seventh the density of the Earth's atmosphere. It was 



Mars and the Planetoids 369 

estimated by Maunder, as far back as 1882, to be as 
thin and rarefied as is the atmosphere on the tops of the 
highest terrestrial mountains. Although spectroscopic 
evidence in regard thereto has been conflicting, the 
belief exists that there is some water-vapour in the 
Martian atmosphere, and most of the time a few thin, 
semi-transparent clouds. A Martian spectrum taken 
as recently as 1909, by Campbell, from the summit of 
Mount Whitney (14,898 ft.), it may be mentioned, 
showed an absence of water- vapour, however, as it was 
destitute of certain bands called water- vapour bands. 

Viewed through a telescope, the Martian surface 
presents certain light and dark markings, the former 
appearing as bright reddish-yellow areas and the latter 
as areas of a dark greenish-grey or bluish-grey shade. 
By early telescopic observers the reddish-yellow areas 
were supposed to be continents and the darker areas 
seas and oceans, and names were assigned to the more 
prominent features. Now, however, it is believed that 
there are no large bodies of water on Mars. The 
reddish areas, which cover nearly five-eighths of the 
planet's surface, are to-day looked upon as desert land, 
while the blue-green areas, which cover about three- 
eighths of the surface, are supposed to be merely tracts 
of vegetation. The surface of the planet is more or 
less irregular and rough, showing hills, plateaus, and 
e/en mountain ranges. The bright projections on the 
terminator, first noticed in 1890, are referred by Camp- 
bell to snow-covered mountains, and by Lowell to 
sunHght striking on a great dust-cloud. Around the 
poles are plainly to be seen brilliant rounded spots, the 
famous so-called polar caps. They were discovered in 
1 7 19 by the French astonomer Maraldi, and arebeHeved 
to be composed of snow and ice. They vary in extent 
24 



370 The Call of the Stars 

with the Martian seasons, sometimes entirely vanishing 
at midsummer, reappearing rather suddenly in the 
autumn, and extending down twenty-five to thirty-five 
degrees from the pole during the winter. As the polar 
caps diminish, narrow dark rims are seen around them, 
which are believed to be the result of the melting of the 
polar snows. One suggestion — a not very plausible one 
— for explaining the polar caps is that they may not be 
due to fallen snow, but to carbonic acid gas (carbon 
dioxide) which is known to condense into a snowlike 
substance at a temperature of — 109° F., and to dissolve 
at a correspondingly low temperature. 

Carbon dioxide, like water- vapour, it may be noted, 
has the property of strongly absorbing solar light and 
heat, and in the Earth's atmosphere it is one of the 
substances which tends to produce a high mean tem- 
perature. Hence the suggestion has been made that a 
slight excess of carbon dioxide in Mars's atmosphere 
might so alter the temperature gradients as to keep the 
average temperature at the planet's surface at a point 
compatible with plant and animal life and growth. Of 
this, however, nothing is with certainty known. All 
that can be definitely stated in regard to the average 
temperature at the surface of Mars is that it is much 
lower than that of the Earth — probably below the 
freezing point of water — and that the temperature is 
more subject to extremes in variation. The theoretical 
temperature according to Stefan's law is found to be 
thirty-three degrees below zero. And yet, it is quite 
likely that there are mitigating circumstances, at pre- 
sent unknown, that soften down the rigours of Mars*s 
seasons, and make them milder than now seems possible. 

After a close study of the planet made during the 
favourable opposition of 1877, the eminent Italian 



i 

Mars and the Planetoids 371 

astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, at the Milan Ob- 
servatory, found its surface crossed and recrossed by 
many narrow, dark-greenish streaks, which he called 
canali — a word which is properly translated "chan- 
nels," but was unfortunately interpreted to mean 
canals in the artificial sense. These streaks, which were 
supposed to begin and end in the dark areas, varied in 
width from about fifteen to sixty miles, and in length 
from a few hundred miles to one-third the entire 
circumference of the planet. At the next opposition, 
and again at the opposition of 1881, the assiduous 
Schiaparelli reobserved most of these canali, and dis- 
covered many more, some of which were seen double, 
a phenomenon called "gemination." For many years 
his observations were received with a considerable 
amoimt of doubt and hesitation, but in 1886, Perrotin, 
at Nice, noted a few of the larger canali, and confirmed 
some of the markings. At the opposition of 1892, 
Pickering at Arequipa detected many of the canali and 
observed at their junctions numerous small round 
dark spots, which were first called "lakes," but are 
now known as "oases. " 

That the canali are actual features of the planet's 
surface — whatever their meaning may be — was defin- 
itely established in 1905, from a photograph of Mars 
secured by Lampland at Lowell Observatory. These 
canali are by far the most mysterious of all the Mars 
phenomena, and their appearance is synchronous with 
the gradual disappearance of the polar snows. They 
cannot be seen, however, except in large instruments, 
and under perfect atmospheric conditions. Moreover, 
what are really seen in the telescope are not the narrow 
water channels themselves, which are too small to be 
seen at such a distance, but the fringe of plant growth 



372 The Call of the Stars 

along the banks. They stand out boldly in Plate 
XXXV., a map of Mars designed by that most eminent 
observer of the planet, Percival Lowell. When Schia- 
parelli first discovered the canali, he believed them to be 
natural waterways, through which the water from the 
annual melting of the polar snow-fields flows toward 
the equator, but in his later years he averred their 
artificiality. Along with Lowell, Flammarion, and other 
zealous observers, he confidently asserted that these 
markings are the features of a vast irrigation system, 
that they are in reality "canals," and that Mars is in- 
habited by a race of superior beings. Without doing in- 
justice to any one, it may be safely said that statements 
made as to the existence of beings on the ruddy little 
world are somewhat speculative. Whether conscious, 
intelligent life flourishes there is not positively known, 
and may never be known. As to the canali themselves, 
the belief most generally held by astronomers is that 
they are not true canals, but are due to cracks or clefts 
in the Martian surface, such as might be made by nature. 
Along the sides of the cracks or clefts are ribbons of 
vegetation, nourished by the water- vapour escapingfrom 
them, and these are the dark- greenish streaks, "vegetal 
canals, *' so to speak, which are visible in the telescope. 
In addition to the canali observed by Schiaparelli, 
Lowell and his assistants at the famous Lowell Observa- 
tory at Flagstaff (6800 ft.), Arizona, have found many 
so-called canals, which differ radically from the mark- 
ings observed by the Italian astronomer. Lowell 
speaks of these streaks as being extremely narrow, and 
of uniform width from beginning to end, and as forming 
a complete network over the Martian surface. Nearly 
seven hundred of the more noticeable of these mys- 
terious linelike markings have been catalogued, about 




Lowell Observatory 

Plate XXXV. 



A Map of the Planet Mars 



(The image is inverted as in astronomical telescopes. The Syrtis 
Major or "Hour-glass Sea," usually the most conspicuous object on the 
red planet, a white " polar cap," several " oases," and a large number of 
the famous so-called " canals." some of which are doubled, are well 
represented here ) 



Mars and the Planetoids 373 

sixty of which are described as "doubled canals." 
The dupHcated canals, it is said, appear to their best 
advantage in the late Martian summer and fall of the 
northern hemisphere. The small so-called canals are 
estimated by Lowell to have an actual width of two or 
three miles, and the larger ones a width of from fifteen 
to twenty miles. While many observers have seen 
and mapped numerous lines and markings, compara- 
tively few have been able to see the pencil-like network 
of lines as mapped at the Lowell Observatory. The 
elegant drawings of Keeler and Barnard made at the 
Lick on Moimt Hamilton show soft, irregular shadings 
and hazy, ill-defined streaks, quite unlike the distinct 
lines and markings shown in the rare and detailed 
drawings of Lowell. 

After the polar caps, the most conspicuous object 
on the Martian surface is the Syrtis Major or Hour- 
glass Sea, which is seen fully presented in Plate XXXV. 
It was observed by the famous Dutch astronomer 
Huyghens in 1659, and was the first marking detected 
on Mars. In shape it is not unlike the North American 
continent. 

Mars has two extremely minute satellites, or moons, 
revolving around it, at rather close quarters, and with 
great rapidity. They were first seen by the late Asaph 
Hall at Washington in August, 1877, with the great 
telescope of the Naval Observatory, the largest tele- 
scope then in existence. They were named Deimos 
and Phobos, these being the names of the steeds said by 
Homer to have drawn the chariot of Mars, the war-god 
of Olympus. They are the tiniest bodies in the solar 
system, with the exception possibly of some of the 
fainter planetoids. Neither satellite is visible except 
when the planet is in opposition and generally a tele- 



374 The Call of the Stars 

scope of from twelve to eighteen inches diameter is 
required to see them. The diameter of Phobos, the 
inner satelhte, is estimated at thirty-six miles, and that 
of Deimos at ten miles. Deimos makes a complete 
circuit around Mars, at a distance of 12,500 miles from 
the surface of the planet, in thirty hours and eighteen 
minutes, while Phobos completes a revolution in seven 
hours and thirty-nine minutes, at a distance of only 
3700 miles from the planet's surface. Deimos rises 
in the east and takes five hours and forty-one minutes 
more time to revolve around Mars than the latter 
takes to rotate on its axis. Its mean period from meri- 
dian around to meridian again is 131 hours and 15 
minutes, dtiring which it goes through its phases four 
times. 

The period or month of Phobos, the brighter and the 
nearer satellite to the planet, is the shortest known, and 
is less than one-half the length of a Martian day. The 
swift revolution of the satellite, combined with the 
motion of Mars on its axis, would make it appear to the 
inhabitants of the planet, if there are any, to rise in 
the west and set in the east. It crosses the heavens 
in eleven hours and seven minutes, and during that 
time goes through all its phases, from new to full, 
one and a half times. 

In mythology Mars was one of the principal Roman 
divinities, and at an early period was identified with 
Ares, the Greek god of war. Next to Jupiter he enjoyed 
the highest honours at Rome, where he was worshipped 
as the god of war and of carnage, and where numerous 
temples were dedicated to him. His priests, the twelve 
Salii, danced in full armour, and the place dedicated 
to gymnastic and warlike exercises was called after 
his name. Campus Martins, the "Plain of Mars." He 



Mars and the Planetoids 375 

was one of the three tutelary divinities of Rome, and 
is frequently designated "Father Mars." He was the 
reputed son of Jupiter and Juno and is generally 
represented on antique monuments and medals as a 
robust man armed with a helmet, pike, and shield. 
Sometimes, dressed in a brilliant suit of armour, he is 
mounted on a war-chariot, which is guided by Bellona 
or Enyo, the goddess of war, and drawn by two steeds, 
named Phobos and Deimos, or Alarm and Dread. 

THE PLANETOIDS 

In the vast space between the orbits of Mars and 
Jupiter lie a host of tiny celestial bodies, variously 
known as planetoids, asteroids, or minor planets. 
They encircle the Sun at an average mean distance of 
about 246,000,000 miles from that luminary, and accord- 
ing to Bode's Law occupy a place in the sky that should 
be occupied by a single large planet. They were at 
one time supposed to have been the result of a planet- 
ary explosion, but the theory now held is that in the 
original nebula, the shapeless fragments of matter 
forming the planetoids were prevented from condensing 
into a planet by Jupiter's disturbing influence. 

Bode's Law, so-called, was really discovered by 
Titius of Wittenberg, and is, after all, merely a curious 
coincidence, an empiric formula, and not a real law. 
It was published in 1772, and may be summed up briefly 
thus: Take the numbers o, 3, 6, 12, 24, and so on, and 
add to each of them 4. The sums thus obtained very 
nearly represent the relative distances of all the planets 
from the Sun, except Neptune. At a distance correspond- 
ing to twenty-eight — the fifth number — there is no planet, 
the planetoids, it may be noted, occupying its place. 



376 The Call of the Stars 

In 1800, several continental astronomers formed an 
association to search for a planet where B ode's Law 
indicated there should be one. Their operations were 
anticipated, however, by the discovery on January i, 
1 80 1, of a small body — the first planetoid — ^by the 
Sicilian astronomer Piazzi at Palermo, while making 
observations for his well-known catalogue of stars. 
The planetoid was found wandering on slowly in the 
constellation Taurus, at about the exact distance neces- 
sary to fill the gap in B ode's series. It was named Ceres 
after the tutelary goddess of Sicily. In March, 1802, 
Olbers, of Bremen, discovered a second planetoid 
wandering in the same regions as Ceres, which he named 
Pallas, and in 1804 Harding found a third which he 
called Juno. In March, 1807, Olbers detected a fourth, 
in the constellation Virgo, which he named Vesta. 
In 1845 a fifth planetoid was picked up by Hencke, a 
Prussian amateur, which received the name of Astrea, 
and in 1847 three more were added to the list. To-day, 
about eight hundred are known, and their real number 
seems to be legion. New ones are found frequently 
on the photographic plate. 

The four earlier discovered planetoids, namely, 
Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta, are the largest, and are 
the only ones which actually show measurable disks. 
According to Barnard's measurements made in 1895 
with the Lick telescope, Ceres is 477 miles in diameter, 
Pallas 304 miles, Vesta 239 miles, and Juno 120 miles. 
Vesta is the brightest of the four, and is the only 
planetoid that at times comes within the limit of visi- 
bility. Aside from these, none of the planetoids are 
larger than twenty-five miles in diameter, and most of 
them are much less, varying it may be from fifteen to 
ten miles across. All of the planetoids travel direct 



Mars and the Planetoids 377 

like the planets, but their orbits are in many cases 
much more eccentric, and more inclined to the ecliptic, 
than are any of the planetary orbits. They cross and 
recross each other's path undisturbed. Only two of the 
orbits, so far as is known, pass beyond the orbit of 
Jupiter, though several cross the orbit of Mars. The 
nearest planetoid to the Sun is the tiny body Eros, which 
revolves around that luminary in 642.84 days, or 1.76 
years, while the most distant one is Hector, with a 
period of 12. i years. 

After the four principal planetoids, the only one of 
special interest or importance is Eros. It was photo- 
graphically discovered in August, 1898, by Witt of the 
Urania Observatory, Berlin, and is thought to be not a 
sphere but a jagged mass. Its diameter is estimated at 
not more than twenty miles, and it is supposed to com- 
plete a rotation on its axis in five and a half hours. Its 
mean distance from the Sun is about 135,000,000 miles. 
Its orbit is so eccentric that at intervals of about thirty- 
seven years it approaches to within 14,000,000 miles of 
the Earth, nearer than any other celestial body 
except the Moon or a chance comet. At such op- 
positions it appears as bright as a sixth- or seventh- 
magnitude star. The last close opposition occurred 
in 1894, and the next one will take place in 1931. 

In February and March, 1901, about three years after 
its discovery. Von Oppolzer found Eros to be variable, 
in a period of two hours and thirty-eight minutes. At 
its minimum it was less than one-third as bright as at 
its maximum. Then in May the variation vanished. 
Similar periodic variabiHty, though less marked, has 
been detected in Sirona, Hertha, Tercidina, and some 
other of the smaller planetoids. No satisfactory theory 
has yet been advanced to account for these variations. 



378 The Call of the Stars 

Eros is of great importance in astronomy as afford- 
ing, at its favourable oppositions, an opportunity for 
accurate determination of the solar parallax. 

In mythical story, Ceres was the goddess of the grow- 
ing vegetation, and was supposed to preside over the 
harvests. 

Ceres was she who first our furrows ploughed, 
Who gave sweet fruits and every good allowed. 

Pope. 

She was the daughter of Rhea and Saturn, and sister of 
Jupiter. Among a variety of other titles she was called 
the Bona Dea, the beneficent goddess. Angered at the 
carrying off of her daughter Persephone by Pluto with 
the consent of Jupiter, she avoided Olympus, and dwelt 
upon the earth, and would not allow it to produce any 
fruits until it was arranged that Persephone should 
spend two-thirds of the year with her. Her feast, the 
Cerealia, was celebrated on April 19th, honouring the 
young vegetation. In works of art Ceres is represented 
sometimes in a sitting posture and sometimes riding in a 
chariot drawn by horses or dragons, but always in full 
attire. She wore around her head a garland of corn-ears, 
or a simple riband, and held in one hand a Hghted 
torch, and in the other a poppy, which was sacred to her. 
Pallas was an epithet of Athena (Minerva), the reputed 
goddess of wisdom and scientific warfare. The goddess 
was the daughter of Jupiter, from whose brain she is 
fabled to have sprung, with a mighty war-shout, com- 
pletely armed, and brandishing a spear. Jtmo, the 
queen of heaven, and goddess of the atmosphere and 
of marriage, was a daughter of Rhea and Saturn, and 
sister and wife of Jupiter. 



Mars and the Planetoids 379 

. . . Juno, who presides 

Supreme o'er bridegrooms and o'er brides. 

Virgil (Conington's tr.). 

Her marriage to Jupiter, called the "Sacred Mar- 
riage," was represented in many places where she 
was worshipped. At her nuptials all the gods 
honoured her with presents. She was, properly speak- 
ing, the only really married goddess among the 
Olympians. Like Saturn, she was the guardian of 
the finances, and, tmder the name of Moneta, she had 
a temple on the Capitoline Hill, which contained 
the mint. Vesta, one of the great Roman divinities, 
was the goddess of the hearth and its fire. She was 
the daughter of Rhea and Saturn, and was looked upon 
as the giver of all domestic happiness. She was the 
reputed goddess of chastity, and was represented in her 
temple, which stood in the Forum, by no statue, but a 
sacred fire was maintained on her altar, which was 
carefully attended to by the Vestals, her virgin priest- 
esses. The Vestalia, or festival of Vesta, was one of 
the most welcome and universally popular summer 
festivals of the Roman people. The little Eros was the 
god of love, the most handsome and lovely of the gods. 
By Hesiod he was represented as one of the great cos- 
mogonic powers, along with Chaos, Gaea, and Tartarus, 
but by later writers as the son of Aphrodite (Venus), 
equivalent to the Latin god Cupid. He is generally 
represented as a beautiful child with golden wings, and 
carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows. His chief char- 
acteristic, aside from youthfulness, is the power of inspir- 
ing the passion of love. He is the usual companion of 
his mother Aphrodite, and is one of the characters in 
the profoimdly thoughtful myth of Amor and Psyche. 



CHAPTER IX 

JUPITER AND SATURN 

Omitting the group of planetoids, the fifth planet 
in order from the Sun is the pale primrose planet Jupi- 
ter, the giant planet of the solar system. It is 1309 
times the size of the Earth, and is larger than all the 
Other planets put together. Furthermore, its mass is 
318 times the Earth's, or more than double as large as 
the combined mass of all the other planets. Its surface 
gravity is 2.65 times that of the Earth, and its average 
density a little less than one-quarter of the Earth's, 
or only fractionally greater than that of water. In 
form it is an oblate spheroid, the oblateness d^) — a 
result of the planet's swift rotation — being much greater 
than that of any other planet except Saturn. Accord- 
ing to Barnard's measures its equatorial diameter is some 
90,190 miles and its polar diameter some 84,570 miles, 
a difference of 5620 miles. It travels round the Sim in 
a period of 11.86 terrestrial years (eleven years, ten 
months, and fourteen days) — a Jovian year — at a 
mean distance of 483 million miles, and at an average 
speed of eight and one-tenth miles a second. Its 
orbit, which is considerably more eccentric than those 
of Venus and the Earth, is such that its distance from 
the Sun varies from 462 millon miles at perihelion, to 
504 million miles at aphelion. At a favourable opposi- 

380 



Jupiter and Saturn 381 

tion the planet's distance from the Earth is about 
369 milHon miles, while at conjunction it is about 596 
million miles. 

Its synodic period is about 399 days, or a little more 
than a year and a month. Thus the last opposition 
occurred early in July, 191 3, and the next will occur 
during the second week in August, 19 14, at which time 
the planet will be in Capricornus, and will be a brilliant 
object in the summer sky. The planet will be in 
opposition soon after the middle of September in 191 5, 
near the last of October in 191 6, and about the first 
of December in 191 7, and for the next few years it 
will be a winter star. In 19 15, it will be situated on 
the eastern edge of the constellation Aquarius, in 1916 
on the eastern border of Pisces, and in 191 7 in the 
constellation Taurus. Jupiter's pace eastward through 
the zodiac is slow and majestic, being at the rate of 
one sign a year, or about two and a half degrees a 
month. For about two months before and after each 
opposition, the planet retrogrades, the apparently 
backward movement — caused by the Earth passing 
it in eastward motion — amounting to about ten degrees. 

Its period of rotation on its axis has been found to 
be on the average nine hours and fifty-five minutes. 
Some markings, the equatorial, give a period of nine 
hours and fifty minutes, while others, midway between 
the equator and the poles, give a period some five to 
seven minutes longer. As stated by Stanley Williams 
of Brighton, England, no fewer than nine different 
rates of rotation of the different parts have been 
observed. The bright white spots seem to rotate more 
rapidly than do the darker markings, and on the whole 
the parts move faster in the southern than in the north- 
em hemisphere. The equatorial parts, as a rule, rotate 



382 The Call of the Stars 

the most rapidly, the rate of rotation being about 
thirty thousand miles an hour. 

The indination of the axis of the planet to its orbit 
is only three degrees, consequently there can be little 
variety in the seasons. As Jupiter is a little over five 
times as far from the Sun as the Earth is, it receives 
from that luminary twenty-five times less light and heat 
than does the Earth. According to the measurements 
of MuUer at Potsdam in 1893, the albedo or reflective 
power of the far-away planet, as a whole, is seventy- 
five per cent, of the sunlight which falls upon it, which 
is practically the same as that of newly fallen snow. 

By the spectroscope, Jupiter is shown to be sur- 
rounded by an extremely thick and dense atmosphere, 
heavily laden with vapour, and sometimes estimated as 
a thousand miles in depth. The interior of the planet 
is thought to be so intensely hot that the vapours driven 
upwards from the heated mass underneath, are kept 
suspended in the atmosphere in the form of dense, 
cloud masses — the Jovian " self -raised, not sun-raised" — 
clouds. That the planet has a small solid nucleus is 
quite probable, but there is no certainty that the body 
is so far cooled as to have a solid surface. The tem- 
perature of the whole planet is doubtless exceedingly 
high, though hardly sufficient at the surface to make the 
globe self-luminous. The great planet is looked upon 
as a sort of "semi-sun" — a sun which has just ceased 
to shine by its own light. It probably gives out an 
appreciable quantity of heat, and may have a dull red 
glow, but radiates no sensible quantity of light. In 
the earlier stages of its existence, when it shone with 
its own light, it doubtless presented the appearance, 
from outer space, of a minute companion star of the 
sun, the two forming a fine double star. Like the 




Lick Observatory- 
PL ATE XXXVI. The Planet Jupiter, Showing the Red Spot and 
a Satellite 

(The image is inverted as in astronomical telescopes. The oval marking on 
the upper left-hand po-tion of the disk is the Red Spot. The round 
black spot to the right is the shadow of the Satellite) 



Jupiter and Saturn 383 

rest of the major planets, it is much too young in world 
evolution to admit of life of any kind. 

When seen through a telescope, Jupiter is one of the 
most beautiful and interesting objects in the heavens 
(Plate XXXVL). Its broad, bright disk is distinctly 
oval, and displays many conspicuous and variable mark- 
ings, spots, and belts. While to the naked eye its light 
has a slightly yellowish tint, and is remarkably steady 
and commanding, under telescopic view it shows a 
variety of beautiful colours, with the reddish ones most 
conspicuous. Stretching across the yellow globe from 
side to side are a series of broad dusky bands called 
belts, alternately light and dull brown, running parallel 
with the equator. These belts, which are belts of cloud, 
vary greatly both in width and number. As many as 
twenty or thirty have been seen at one time, but usually 
the number is much less. They are generally from one 
thousand to ten thousand miles in width, and are most 
conspicuous near the equator. 

Situated, one on each side of the equator, are two 
wide and very distinct belts called the "tropical belts. " 
They are commonly of a reddish-brown colour, though, 
not infrequently, a reddish-brown belt may be seen on 
one side of the equator, and a grey-blue one on the 
other. Between the tropical belts is the bright equa- 
torial belt, a pale yellow or sometimes ruddy belt from 
eight thousand to ten thousand miles wide. While the 
Jovian belts are not permanent markings, but change 
in shape and detail frequently, these three are a semi- 
permanent feature, often remaining unchanged for a 
considerable time. To the north and south are other 
narrower belts of different colours, and often the poles 
are covered with hoods of pale blue or grey. Dusky or 
white spots also appear upon the planet's surface, which 



384 The Call of the Stars 

may change in colour, shape, or brightness, or even dis- 
appear altogether for a time. All the markings, light as 
well as dark, lie low down in the planet's atmosphere, 
and, as viewed from the earth, there seems to be no 
great difference of altitude between them. 

The most noticeable bright spot is the famous " Great 
Red Spot" which is situated just below the southern 
tropical belt (Plate XXXVI.), at about thirty-five 
degrees south latitude. It is one of the most puzzling 
and interesting features of the planet. Between the 
years 1663 and 1708, it appeared and vanished eight 
times. It became very conspicuous in July, 1878, and 
was then of a pale pink colour, which gradually deep- 
ened until it became a dull brick-red. As recorded by 
Pritchett it was an immense oblong marking, measuring 
about thirty thousand miles from east to west, and 
seven thousand from north to south. Its area was 
greater than that of the entire terrestrial globe, and it 
apparently moved independently of the planet. Six 
years later it had almost disappeared, but in 1890 it 
again became distinctly visible, though it never re- 
covered its original bright colour. A curious phe- 
nomenon was witnessed in 1891, when the red spot was 
overtaken by a dark spot, which, instead of colliding 
or going over or under it, drifted around its southern 
edge. Since that time it has varied greatly both in 
colour and brightness, but is still faintly visible, its 
location being clearly indicated by an enormous bay 
in the outer border of the great southern belt. The 
nature of this wonderful spot remains as yet unknown. 

So far as is known, Jupiter is attended by nine satel- 
lites, four large and five small, which are believed by 
W. H. Pickering to be elliptical. The four large Jovian 
satellites, which are almost of planetary dimensions, 



Jupiter and Saturn 385 

were discovered by Galileo, at Padua, on January 7, 
1610, with his newly-invented, but crude, telescope, 
and were named by him the "Medicean Stars," in 
honour of his patron Cosmo de Medici. They are 
nearly in line with the planet's equator and are easily 
within the range of a good opera-glass or prism bin- 
ocular. The other five have been found only within 
the last few years, and are so extremely small and faint 
that they are visible only in the most powerful tele- 
scopes. It may here be noted, that the real inventor 
of the telescope was Franz Lippershey, a spectacle- 
maker at Middleberg, and that Galileo's first telescope, 
though an independent invention, was suggested by the 
Hollander's achievement. 

The four large satellites are sometimes known by the 
names of lo, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, though 
they are more frequently designated, in the order of 
their distance from the planet as I, II, III, IV. Of this 
quartet, satellite I, with a diameter of 2450 miles, re- 
volves around Jupiter at a mean distance of 261,000 
miles, in one day, eighteen hours, and twenty-eight 
minutes. As a result of its rapid motion, it changes 
nightly, from side to side of its primary. Satellite II, 
the smallest of the four, with a diameter of 2045 miles, 
revolves in three days, thirteen hours, and fourteen 
minutes, at a mean distance of 415,000 miles. Satellite 
III, the largest of the four, with a diameter of 3550 
miles, makes a complete revolution in seven days, three 
hours, and forty-two minutes, at a mean distance of 
664,000 miles. Satellite IV, with a diameter of 3345 
miles, revolves round the primary in sixteen days, 
sixteen hours, and thirty-two minutes, at a mean dis- 
tance of 1,167,000 miles. On satellites I, III, and IV, 
equatorial belts and bands have been observed. 



386 The Call of the Stars 

After Galileo's four moons, no other satellite of 
Jupiter was discovered until 1892, when on September 
9th, that most thorough and reliable observer Barnard, 
then at the Lick Observatory, found the fifth satellite, 
which became designated by the numeral V. It is 
one of the smaller members of the Jovian system of 
moons, and is the nearest satellite to Jupiter. It has 
an estimated diameter of about one hundred miles, 
and revolves round its primary in 11 hours, 57 
minutes, and 22.6 seconds, at a mean distance of 
112,500 miles. It is notable as moving faster than any 
other satellite in the solar system, its orbital speed, 
owing to the great attractive power of the giant planet, 
being sixteen and a half miles a second. By the aid of 
the photographic plate, Perrine, at the Lick, discovered 
satellite VI in December, 1904, and satellite VII in Feb- 
ruary, 1905. The former, with an estimated diameter 
of not more than one hundred miles, revolves round 
Jupiter in about 242 days, at a mean distance of 6,968,- 
000 miles, while the latter, with an estimated diameter 
of only thirty-five miles, completes a revolution in about 
two himdred days, at a mean distance of 6,136,000 
miles. In February, 1908, satellite VIII, which is of 
the seventeenth magnitude, was discovered by Melotte, 
at Greenwich, with the aid of photography. It is 
supposed to have about the same diameter as satellite 
VI, and completes a revolution, in a very eccentric orbit, 
in a little more than two years and two months, at a 
mean distance of about fifteen million miles. In July, 
1914, satellite IX was discovered b}^ Nicholson at the 
Lick. It is of the seventeenth magnitude, and has a 
period of two and one-sixth years. The motions of 
satellites VIII and IX seem to be "retrograde," or 
opposite to those of the other satellites. 



Jupiter and Saturn 387 

Jupiter is ever full of interest and charm to the ama- 
teur, as there is always something happening either on 
the giant world itself or among its spry and fascinating 
attendants. To watch the four larger satellites in their 
occultations, when they pass behind the planet's disk, 
or in their eclipses when they enter the great cone of 
shadow cast by the enormous globe, or most of all in 
their transits across the great planet's bright face, is 
a source of never-ending pleasure. Ordinarily, when 
a satellite is in transit, it will be followed or preceded, 
according to the season, by its shadow, the satellite 
being generally seen projected on the face of the planet 
as a brilliant white spot, and the shadow as a tiny round 
black dot (Plate XXXVI.). The transit of a shadow 
may be seen even with a two-inch telescope, but for the 
transit of the satellite itself a three-inch is required. 
Sometimes all four satellites disappear from view, as 
happened on October 3, 1907, when satellites I (lo) 
and III (Ganymede) were eclipsed, satellite IV (Callisto) 
was occulted, and satellite II (Europa) was in transit, 
and became invisible, being merged in the greater 
brightness of the central portion of Jupiter's disk. 
The times of all the transits, eclipses, and occultations 
are given in the Nautical Almanac, in which also the 
relative positions of the satellites from night to night 
are set forth. It was through observations of the trans- 
its of Jupiter's satellites that the Danish astronomer 
Roemer, in 1675, discovered the velocity of light, which 
up to that time was thought to be instantaneous, but 
which is now known to be approximately 186,400 miles 
a second. 

Being regarded by the ancients as the chief of the 
planets, this mammoth globe was given the name of the 
chief of the gods, who, among the mythologists, was 



388 The Call of the Stars 

Jupiter or Jove, the reputed son of Saturn and Rhea, 
and brother and husband of Juno. The god Jupiter, 
according to fable, was born and reared on Mount Ida 
in Crete, and reigned on the top of "many-peaked 
Olympus, " on the coast of Thessaly. He was the chief 
of the gods of ancient Rome, and was identified with the 
Greek Zeus, the most prominent and powerful of all 
the Olympian divinities. When quite young, he rescued 
his father Saturn from the Titans, and afterwards, with 
the help of Hercules, defeated the Gigantes or giants, 
when they made war against heaven. Later he sup- 
planted his father as ruler of the universe, and divided 
the empire of the world with his brothers, reserving the 
kingdom of heaven for himself, and giving the empire 
of the sea to Neptune, and that of the infernal regions 
to Pluto. He was generally represented as a majestic 
personage with long, curling hair and beard, clad in 
flowing drapery, and seated upon a magnificent throne 
of gold or ivory, with thunderbolts in one hand ready 
to be hurled, and a sceptre of c^^press in the other, while 
close beside him stood an eagle with expanded wings, 
the emblem of strength and power. 

He whose all-conscious eyes the world behold, 
The eternal Thunderer sat, enthroned in gold, 
High heaven the footstool of his feet he makes. 
And wide beneath him all Olympus shakes. 

Homer (Pope's tr.). 

The worship of Jove was well-nigh universal, and 
surpassed in solemnity that of all other deities. Accord- 
ing to the belief of the Rom.ans, he determined the 
course of all human affairs, and by his own choice 
assigned good or evil to mortals. The Fates and 
Destiny alone dared oppose his sovereign will. He 





l^^^^H 






^B 



Lowell Observatory 

Plate XXXVII. The Planet Saturn and Its Rings 

(Showing wisps) 



Jupiter and Saturn 389 

revealed the future to man through signs in the heavens, 
and the flight of birds. He had many oracles of which 
the most renowned were those of Dodona in Epirus 
and Ammon in the Libyan Desert. A magnificent 
temple at Olympia, in the Peloponnesus, was dedicated 
to him, where every fifth year the people of Greece 
were wont to assemble to celebrate games — the Olym- 
pian Games — in honour of his great victory over the 
Titans. He had also a splendid fane in the isle of 
^gina. In Homeric poems Jupiter is described as the 
thimderer, the gatherer of clouds, and the originator 
of all atmospheric changes. 

SATURN 

The second largest planet in the solar system, and at 
the same time the most interesting, is the wonderful 
and beautiful ringed world, Sattun (Plate XXXVII.). 
It is the sixth planet in order from the Sun, and the 
most remote world known to the ancients. It shines 
with a steady, dull, red-yellow light, and to the un- 
aided eye appears about as bright as a first-magnitude 
star. It is the most spectacular of all the planets, and 
is distinguished from all known celestial bodies by its 
marvellous system of immense rings, which has been 
known to astronomers for a little over two and a half 
centuries, and may be distinctly seen in a telescope of 
only 2j-inch aperture. It is about 740 times larger 
than the Earth, but is only about ninety-five times as 
heavy. Its density is less than one-eighth that of the 
Earth, or about seven-tenths that of water, or, roughly 
speaking, about that of cork. In proportion to its size, 
therefore, Saturn is the lightest of all the planets, and 
is probably a vast mass of seething vapours, with a com- 



390 The Call of the Stars 

paratively small, intensely hot, and relatively condensed 
nucleus. 

According to Barnard's measures, its mean diameter is 
73, 120 miles, but it is so flattened at the poles and bulged 
at the equator that the polar diameter is only 69,770 
miles, while the equatorial diameter is 76,470 miles, a 
difference of 6700 miles. So, its oblateness or polar 
compression, which amounts to about i\, is greater than 
that of any other planet. Its average period of rota- 
tion on its axis is ten hours, fourteen minutes, and 
twenty-four seconds; different portions, as on Jupiter, 
rotating at slightly different speeds. 

Saturn revolves about the Sun in an orbit a trifle 
more eccentric than that of Jupiter, at a mean distance 
of 886,000,000 miles, in a little less than twenty-nine 
and a half terrestrial years (2946 yrs.), — a Satumian 
year — at a velocity of about six miles a second. Its 
distance from the luminary varies between 911,000,000 
miles at aphelion, and 861,000,000 miles at perihelion. 
From the Earth the planet's distance varies between 
1,028,000,000 miles at the most remote conjunction, 
and 744,000,000 miles at the most favourable opposition. 
Its synodic period, the interval from opposition to 
opposition, is 378 days, so that the planet returns each 
year about thirteen days later than the year previous. 
It travels eastward along the ecliptic about one degree 
a month, and remains, on an average, for nearly two 
and a half years in each constellation. Once each year, 
when in opposition, a slight apparent retrograde motion 
of some five degrees occurs, due to the Earth's overtak- 
ing and passing the planet. 

The planet was in opposition December, 191 3, in the 
constellation Taurus, and the next opposition will oc- 
cur during the third week in December, 19 14, when the 




Yerkes Observatory 

Plate XXXVIII. The Planet Saturn 

(Rings on edge, showing condensations) 



Jupiter and Saturn 391 

planet will be about on the border line between Taurus 
and Gemini, and will be at its brightest. It will be in 
opposition again the first week in January, 19 16, about 
the middle of January, 19 17, and near the last of Jan- 
uary in 1918. In 1916 and 1917 it will be in the constel- 
lation Gemini and in 19 18 in Cancer. The ring will be 
open to its greatest possible extent in 1914, when its 
southern side will be shown, while in 1928 the northern 
side of the ring will be shown open at its widest. The 
planet is brightest when in the most easterly part of 
Taurus and in Scorpio, when the ring system is widest 
open, and least bright when in the last half of Leo and 
in Aquarius, when the ring appears edgewise (Plate 
XXXVIII.), and is so thin as to be invisible except with 
powerful telescopes. 

Saturn's disk like that of Jupiter is darkest at the 
edges, and shows a number of belts and markings. 
The belts are parallel with the equator, but are by no 
means so definitely outlined, or so varied in colour, 
as those of Jupiter. The equatorial belt is brighter 
than the rest, and often shows a faint rose-coloured tint, 
while the tropical belts are of a grey-green shade, and 
the polar regions of a leaden colour. At times brilliant 
white spots appear upon the surface, and remain visible 
for a number of weeks. The axis of the planet is 
inclined from a perpendicular to the plane of its orbit 
about 27°, consequently the seasons are similar to those 
of the Earth, though longer and much more accentuated, 
each season lasting more than seven terrestrial years. 
The planet's supply of solar light and heat is only about 
one-ninetieth of that received by the Earth, but the 
globe is probably intensely hot in itself, and has an 
exceedingly luminous, dense, and cloud-laden atmos- 
phere. As with Jupiter, the heat which raises the 



392 The Call of the Stars 

clouds comes from the planet itself and not from the 
Sun. Did the planet depend on the Sun alone for heat, 
its temperature would be not far from three hundred 
degrees below zero, Fahrenheit. 

The most striking and unique feature of Saturn is 
the system of rings which girdles its equator, and which 
was first glimpsed by Galileo in 1610, but was first 
observed in its true form by Huyghens in 1656. The 
rings are three in number, and are generally referred to 
as A, B, and C, — A being the outer ring. They lie 
one within the other in the same plane, and are so 
extremely thin that their estimated thickness is not 
more than eighty miles. They revolve aroimd Satiirn 
in the same direction as the planet rotates on its axis. 
Though apparently elliptical in form, they are really 
circular, their elongated appearance being due to the 
angle at which they are seen from the Earth. They 
do not shine of themselves, but receive their light from 
the Sun, and as G. H. Darwin, son of Charles Darwin 
the great biologist, suggested, probably represent merely 
a passing stage in the evolution of the Saturnian system. 
Somewhat recently Lowell has drawn attention again 
to beads on the rings, which are thought to be points 
of collision of the fragments of matter composing them. 

According to Barnard's measures, the exterior 
diameter of the outer ring. Ring A, is approximately 
172,600 miles. Its width is 11,060 miles, and it is 
divided into two nearly equal parts by the so-called 
"Encke's division." It is separated from the middle 
ring. Ring B, by a dark space, known as "Cassini's 
division," which is sharp and distinct, and has a width 
of 2240 miles. This division was discovered in 1675, 
by the celebrated French astronomer, G. D. Cassini, 
the first director of the Paris Observatory. Ring B is 



Jupiter and Saturn 393 

nearly eighteen thousand miles in width, and is the 
brightest of the three. Near its outer edge it is bril- 
liantly luminous, but at its inner edge it fades into the 
inner ring (Ring C) which is but slightly luminous, and 
is sometimes called the crepe or gauze ring. Ring C is 
10,900 miles in width, and is nearly six thousand (5865) 
miles distant from Saturn. It has a dusky, greyish 
appearance, and is semi-transparent, the curve and 
body of the planet being visible through it. It was 
discovered by W. C. Bond of Harvard in 1 850. Neither 
it nor Encke's division can be seen except in the largest 
telescopes. The rings of Saturn are believed to consist 
of myriads of meteoric particles, each circling in its 
own individual orbit, but all keeping so close together 
that they appear like three solid concentric rings, whirl- 
ing continually around the great planet. According 
to the laws which govern planetary bodies, the particles 
which are nearest the planet move most rapidly, and 
those which are farthest move most slowly. With the 
aid of the spectroscope, Keeler, in 1896, foimd that the 
outside of the ring was moving at the rate of ten miles 
a second, and the inside at the rate of twelve and a half 
miles in the same period of time. 

In addition to the rings, Saturn has ten satellites, 
which, so far as is known, is more than any other planet 
of the solar system possesses. They all revolve outside 
the rings, and with the exception of lapetus and Phoebe, 
revolve nearly in the plane of the rings. Their names 
in order of their distance from Saturn are: Mimas, 
Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion, 
Themis, lapetus, and Phoebe. Of these only Titan 
and lapetus are visible in small telescopes, the others 
requiring powerful instruments. Titan, the largest 
and brightest of the satellites, has a diameter of 2720 



394 The Call of the Stars 

miles, and was first seen by Huyghens in 1655. It is 
771,000 miles distant from the planet, and has a period 
of fifteen days, twenty- two hours, and forty-one minutes, 
lapetus with about two-thirds the diameter of Titan, 
is 2,225,000 miles distant from Saturn, and has a period 
of about seventy-nine days and eight hours. It was 
discovered by Cassini in 1671, and seems to be much 
brighter on one side than the other. Rhea, the third 
brightest moon, with a diameter of some 1500 miles, is 
332,000 miles distant. Mimas, the closest to Saturn 
of the ten, with a diameter of some 600 miles, is 
117,000 miles distant, and revolves about that planet 
in twenty-two hours and thirty-seven minutes. Hy- 
perion revolves in a very eccentric orbit, at a distance 
of 934,000 miles. Dione, 238,000 miles distant, and 
Tethys 186,000 miles, were both discovered in 1684 
by Cassini. Enceladus, with a distance of 157,000 
miles, was, together with coy Mimas, discovered by 
Sir William Herschel, in 1789. Phoebe, with an esti- 
mated diameter of 150 miles, is 7,996,000 miles distant 
from its primary, and has a period of rather more than 
546 days. It is a remarkable and independent little 
moon circling in an eccentric orbit in a ''retrograde'* 
direction, that is, from east to west. It is the ninth 
satellite, and was found by photography, by W. H. 
Pickering in 1899. The tenth of Saturn's train of 
satellites, Themis, also a photographic discovery, is 
906,000 miles distant from the planet. It is a tiny body, 
with an estimated diameter of not more than forty miles, 
revolving round its primary in approximately twenty- 
one days. It was found by W. H. Pickering in 1905. 

In mythology, Saturn or Cronos, the youngest of the 
Titans, was the son of Uranus and Gaea, and father of 
Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Juno, etc. He was King of 




Anderson 



Plate XXXIX. The Eight Columns of the Temple of Saturn 
at Rome 



Jupiter and Saturn 395 

the Universe, and was worshipped by the Romans even 
in their prehistoric days, but his temple was not erected 
on the Capitoline until 498 B.C. The original Temple 
of Saturn was built by the Tarquins, and was sup- 
posed to mark the site of the Sabine altar to the god, 
and the limit of the wood of refuge mentioned by 
Virgil. It was the only temple in Rome where heads 
were imcovered, and tapers were first introduced in 
Roman religious ceremony in this fane. 

Next to the Temple of Vesta, that of Saturn is the 
oldest in Rome. "Its beginnings," says F. Marion 
Crawrford, "are lost in the dawnless night of Time — 
of Time who was Kronos, of Kronos who was Saturn, 
of Saturn who gave his mysterious name to the Satur- 
nalia" — festivals which were celebrated as a harvest- 
home observance, about the time of the winter solstice — 
"in which Carnival had its origin. " Before this temple 
Pompey sat surrounded by soldiers, listening to Cicero's 
defence of Milo, when he received the personal address, 
Te enim jam appello, et ea voce tit me exaudire possis, 
(Ciceronis Pro Milone Oratio, Ch. XXV.) 

The temple was restored in the early years of the reign 
of Augustus, and again, as the inscription on the entabla- 
ture tells, in A.D. 283. Eight granite Ionic columns 
(Plate XXXIX.) still stand upon a part of the founda- 
tion, and these with some steps, that perhaps led to the 
"^rarium," or Treasury of Rome, are all that can be 
seen of the ancient shrine. Saturn was known as the 
god of time, and was portrayed as a decrepit old man, 
with sickle and hour-glass. The Golden Age is said to 
have been during his reign, when according to Hesiod, 

Men lived like gods, with minds devoid of care, 
Away from toils and misery. 



CHAPTER X 

URANUS AND NEPTUNE 

Revolving around the Sun as its seventh planet is the 
huge globe Uranus, to which belongs the distinction of 
being the first world discovered in historic times. It 
was found accidentally by the elder Herschel (William), 
an amateur astronomer, and organist of the Octagon 
Chapel at Bath, England, on March 13, 1781, while 
examining the small stars near Eta Geminorum. 
Strange to say, it had been seen many times before 
Herschel's discovery, but on account of the slowness 
of its motion had been catalogued as an ordinary star. 
Herschel proposed to name the new planet Georgium 
Sidus — the Georgian Star — after his patron, the penuri- 
ous monarch "Farmer George," who had bestowed on 
him knighthood and the not very magnificent pension 
of two himdred pounds a year. Later, however, it was 
known as Herschel, and finally, on the suggestion of 
Bode, as Uranus, its present classical title. On a clear 
and moonless night, when near opposition, it looks as 
bright as a sixth-magnitude star, and can be detected 
with the unaided eye, when the observer know^s where 
to look for it. An opera-glass or prism binocular field- 
glass will show it quite well. In the telescope it appears 
as a pale, greenish-blue, disk, traversed by some faint 
markings. 

396 /^ 



Uranus and Neptune 397 

The planet's meaii distance from the Sun is 1,782, 
000,000 miles, and the eccentricity of its orbit is some- 
what less than that of Jupiter, but more than that of 
Neptune. Its diameter is 3 1 ,900 miles, and it completes 
a revolution around the Sun in about eighty-four ter- 
restrial years (84.02 yrs.), at the rate of a little over 
four miles a second. The inclination of its equator to 
the plane of its orbit is about ninety degrees. It 
rotates like a top rolling on its side, in a period of some 
ten or twelve hours, and in that position travels along its 
vast orbit, which deviates less than half a degree from 
the line of the ecliptic. It rotates in a "retrograde'* 
or backward direction, but it revolves in the direction 
pursued by all the other planets, a direction called 
"coimter-clockwise. " Its volume is about sixty-five 
times that of the Earth, while its mass is only about 
fourteen and a half times the Earth's mass. It is about 
one-fifth as dense as the Earth, and its force of gravity 
is about nine-tenths that of the Earth. It is probably 
in much the same vaporous state as Jupiter and Saturn, 
and is in a condition of great heat. From observations 
made at Lowell Observatory it is inferred that it has 
an extensive atmosphere made up largely of light gases. 
According to Muller its mean albedo, or intrinsic bright- 
ness, is 0.73, or almost that of cloud. 

The synodic period of the planet is some 369I days, so 
that oppositions occur only four or five days later each 
year. Thus it was in opposition in 19 13 on July 29th, 
and will be in opposition again on August 2d, 19 14, 
August 6th, 1 91 5, and so on. Uranus remains in each 
constellation about seven years, and is now in Capri- 
comus, about twenty-four degrees east of the Milk 
Dipper in Sagittarius. Its advance among the stars 
amounts to a little over 4J degrees a year. 



398 The Call of the Stars 

The planet has four satellites, known as Ariel, Um- 
briel, Titania, and Oberon. Titania and Oberon were 
discovered by Herschel in 1787, while Umbriel and 
Ariel were discovered in 1851, the former by Struve, 
and the latter by Lassell. These four satellites are 
all comparatively small bodies, less than a thousand 
miles in diameter, and are remarkable, in that their 
orbits are almost perpendicular to the plane of the 
planet's orbit, and that the motions of all of them are 
"retrograde." The backward direction of the satel- 
lites is, however, from north to south, with a slight 
inclination westward. Ariel the nearest satellite re- 
volves round Uranus in two days and twelve hours, 
at a mean distance of 120,000 miles; Umbriel in four 
days and three hours, at a mean distance of 167,000 
miles; Titania, in eight days and sixteen hours, at a 
mean distance of 273,000 miles; and Oberon in thirteen 
days and eleven hours, at a mean distance of 365,000 
miles. Titania is larger than Oberon, while Ariel and 
Umbriel are both smaller than either of them. Under 
favotirable conditions, the two former are visible in a 
six-inch telescope, but the two latter can only be seen 
in the largest instruments. 

In classical mythology, Uranus or Ouranus, was the 
son of Gasa, the Earth, and father of the Titans, Cy- 
clopes, and Giants, all personages of great renown. 
According to the Greek poets, with him began the first 
race of gods. He hated his children, and fearing to 
lose his kingdom by their violence, cast them into Tar- 
tarus, and kept them prisoners. At the instigation of 
Gaea, and headed by Saturn, they rose against him and 
overthrew his rule. The government of the world was 
then given to Saturn, who in his turn lost it through his 
son Jupiter, as was predicted to him by Uranus and Gaea, 



Uranus and Neptune 399 

NEPTUNE 

The outermost planet of the solar system, so far as 
is known, is Neptune, the eighth planet in order from 
the Sun, and the third in mass and volume (Plate XL.). 
It was discovered by calculation, and its discovery is 
regarded as one of the greatest triumphs of mathe- 
matical astronomy. From slight irregularities in the 
movements of Uranus, amounting to about if minutes, 
two young, able men — J. C. Adams, of England, and U. 
J. J. LeVerrier, of France — independently calculated 
where the unknown disturber (a planet) ought to be. 
Adams finished his results first, in October, 1845, and 
communicated them to the Astronomer Royal, Airy, 
asking that the planet be searched for. No active steps, 
however, were taken in the search, by the British of- 
ficial astronomers, until the following summer. Mean- 
while LeVerrier finished his computations, and sent the 
results to the young German observer Galle at the Berlin 
Observatory, of which Encke was the director. On Sep- 
tember 23d, 1846, the very first night after receiving 
LeVerrier's letter, Galle began the search, and found the 
perturbing planet within less than a degree of the spot 
designated by LeVerrier. Hence it appears that but for 
the official slackness of the British astronomers in the 
use of Adams's computations, the planet might have been 
seen months before. The honour of the discovery is 
to-day given equally to Adams and LeVerrier. At first, 
the newly-discovered body was called LeVerrier, but 
was later, at the suggestion of LeVerrier, and in keeping 
with the custom of naming the planets after the Olym- 
pian deities, given the name of Neptune. Since its 
discovery it has been ascertained that it had been seen 
for more than half a century, but had been taken for 



400 The Call of the Stars 

an ordinary star. It is as bright as an eighth-magni- 
tude star, and though invisible to the naked eye can 
be seen in a good prism binocular. In a telescope of 
considerable power its disk appears of a bluish or 
leaden tint. 

The mean distance of Neptune from the Sun is 
2,791,500,000 miles. Its orbit is less eccentric than 
that of any other planet except Venus, but the eccen- 
tricity is nevertheless sufficient to make its distance 
vary some fifty million miles. It revolves around the 
Sun "direct" (that is from west to east), as all the 
other planets do, in a little less than one hundred and 
sixty-five (164.78) terrestrial years, at the rate of 3f 
miles a second. The diameter of the planet is nearly 
thirty-five thousand (34,800) miles. Its axis is even 
more tilted over than that of Uranus, and its "re- 
trograde" motion thereon is pronounced. Its rotation 
period is not known, but it is thought to be short. 
Its volume is nearly one hundred times that of the 
Earth, and its mass about seventeen times the Earth's 
mass. Its mean density (0.20) is somewhat less than 
that of Uranus. The solar light and heat it receives 
are but one nine-hundredth part of what the Earth 
takes. Owing to its immense distance and small 
apparent size practically nothing is known of its 
surface details. 

Neptune changes its position in the sky rather more 
than two degrees a year, and remains on an average 
about thirteen years in each constellation. Since its 
discovery, it has passed through the constellations 
Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus and Gemini, and is now 
in Cancer. It will be in opposition on January i6th> 
19 14 and oppositions will occur about two days later 
each year thereafter* 




Yerkes Observatory 

Plate XL. The Planet Neptune and its Satellite 



Uranus and Neptune 401 

So far as is known, Neptune is attended by but one 
satellite (Plate XL.), which was discovered by Lassell, 
an English amateur astronomer, on October 10, 1846, 
and appears as a star of about the fourteenth magni- 
tude. It has an estimated diameter of about two 
thousand miles, and is situated at a distance of about 
223,000 miles from the planet, around which it revolves 
in five days, twenty-one hours, and eight minutes, 
which constitute a Neptunian month. Like the 
Uranian moons, this nameless satellite performs its 
revolution round its primary in a "retrograde" manner. 

In mythological story, Neptune, after whom the 
planet was named, was the son of Saturn and Rhea, and 
husband of Amphitrite the daughter of Oceanus and 
Tethys. He was identified with the Greek Poseidon, 
and was the chief niarine divinity of the Romans. By 
one word he could stir up or calm the wildest storm^. 

He spake, and round about him called the clouds 
And roused the ocean — wielding in his hand 
The trident. 

Homer (Bryant's tr.). 

He is commonly represented as a bearded man of stately 
presence, seated in a shell chariot drawn by dolphins or 
sea-horses, and surrounded by Tritons and sea-nymphs, 
and holding in his hand a trident with which he rules 
the waves. 
26 



CHAPTER XI 

COMETS AND METEORS 

Among the most interesting of objects in the noc- 
turnal sky are those mysterious, wandering bodies 
called comets and meteors, which from the very earliest 
ages have attracted widespread attention. Unlike the 
planets they are not confined to the limits of the zodiac, 
but appear in almost every quarter of the heavens. 
Up to the present time there have been seen and re- 
corded some twelve hundred comets, about one hun- 
dred and fifty have been identified, and the orbits of 
nearly five hundred have been calculated. During 
the last century there were thirteen visible to the 
unaided eye. Some five or six comets are usually 
discovered each year, most of them being telescopic. 
They remain visible for periods varying from a few 
days to more than a year; including telescopic vision, 
the average duration of visibility is about three months. 
Some comets have been visible in the daytime ; possibly 
about four or five are so visible in a century. 

About eighty-five out of the several hundred comets 
known seem to have elliptic orbits, fourteen seem to have 
hyperbolic orbits, and all the others, including most of 
the great comets, move around the sun in sensibly 
parabolic orbits. Comets with exactly parabolic or 
hyperbolic orbits — open curves — may be regarded as 

402 



Comets and Meteors 403 

celestial messengers which visit the local solar system 
once, and then recede towards the infinite depth of 
cosmic space from which they came, apparently never to 
return again. Comets which move in ellipses of known 
eccentricity are supposed to have been drawn out of 
their original parabolic orbits, into elliptic orbits by 
the attraction of one of the larger planets. They return 
to the neighbourhood of the sim at short or long inter- 
vals, with periodic regularity, and may be regarded as 
assured members of the local solar system. 

Comets whose periods are less than one himdred 
years are termed periodic comets. They are about 
sixty in number, and nearly half of them have been 
observed more than once. A number of the periodic 
comets have their orbits extending to the orbit of the 
giant Jupiter. Still others go as far as Saturn and 
Uranus, and some to Neptune. The orbits of all 
comets whose periods are less than eight years pass 
very near the orbit of Jupiter. The orbits of the 
seventy to eighty-year comets come very close to the 
orbit of Neptune. The thirty-three-year comet passes 
very near the orbit of Uranus. All periodic comets of 
less periods than eighty years follow direct motion, 
with the exception of Halley's comet and Tempel's 
comet of 1886, which have retrograde motion. The 
long-period comets and the parabolic and hyperbolic 
comets incline to retrograde motion. 

Some thirty-two of the comets that travel in elliptic 
orbits of short periods, and of relatively small eccen- 
tricities, are known as "Jupiter's comet family," and 
have periodic times ranging from three to eight years. 
The planet Saturn has a similar family of two comets, 
Uranus three, and Neptune six. There is a small group 
of six periodic comets of between seventy and eighty 



404 The Call of the Stars 

years, which have been considered as members of the 
local solar system, although only three of them have 
appeared a second time, namely Halley's, 01ber*s, and 
Pons's. These three complete their periods in years as 
follows: Halley's 76.68, Olber's 74.05, and Pons's 70.68. 
Many comets are on record with periods of from eighty 
to ten thousand years ; a few with periods of from thir- 
teen thousand up to nearly three million years. 

Of some twenty-seven interior or short-period comets 
recorded, thirteen have passed their perihelion more 
than once. The most favourably known complete their 
periods in years as follows: Encke's (discovered in 
1818) 3.31, Winnecke's 5.54, Tempel's 5.15, Faye's 7.44, 
Brooks's 7.07, Holmes's 6.85, and Tuttle's 13.66. 

Formerly all cometary apparitions were taken 
seriously, and were thought to be signs from heaven 
foretelling great events in the world. Up to even 
Elizabethan times, it was popularly supposed that royal 
deaths were heralded by these strange and mysterious 
visitants. In Julius CcBsar, Shakespeare makes Cal- 
phumia exclaim as she pleads with Csesar, her husband, 
not to venture forth upon the Ides of March : 

When beggars die, there are no comets seen, 

The Heavens themselves blaze forth the death of Princes. 

In the Manchester Art Gallery is the well-known 
picture "Beware the Ides of March," by Sir E. J. 
Poynter, in which the comet is depicted. 

A comet — probably Halley's — sometimes called Wil- 
liam the Conqueror's comet, which appeared in April, 
1066, the year of the Norman Conquest, struck terror 
to the Saxons, and was regarded as presaging the suc- 
cess of the invasion and the death of Harold, ''Nova 




Lowell Observatory 

Plate XLI. Halley's Comet, Alay 13, 1910 

(Venus to right. Faint line across tail near head is meteor trail) 



Comets and Meteors 405 

Stella, novus rex" ('* A new star, a new sovereign*') was 
the proverb of the time. In the famous Bayeux 
Tapestry, said to have been made as an .ornament for 
the nave of Bayeux Cathedral, appears a representation 
of the comet and of the alarm and amazement of the 
people. The legend over the picture is ^^ Isti mirantur 
stellam. " The piece is a long narrow strip of embroid- 
ery executed in many colours on a cream-white ground. 
Its length was two hundred and thirty feet, and its 
width only nineteen inches. 

In The Seasons — Summer — the poet Thomson has 
this anusion to the apparition of a comet : 

Lo ! from the dread immensity of space, 
Returning, with accelerated course. 
The rushing comet to the sun descends: 
And, as he shrinks below the shading earth, 
With awful train projected o 'er the heavens, 
The guilty nations tremble. 

Three years after the Turks, under Mahomet II, 
had taken Constantinople, and their armies were 
threatening to advance westward into Europe, a 
comet — Halley's — appeared. This was in June, 1456, 
when John Hunniades, the Pope's general, was defend- 
ing Belgrade against the Moslem hordes. Its appari- 
tion at this time was considered a certain sign of the 
anger of the Almighty, and is said to have paralysed 
both armies with fear. A imiversal panic prevailed 
among the people, and some even thought the day of 
judgment {Dies IrcB) was at hand. There is an oft- 
told story of the Pope and the Comet — which has been 
proved to be a myth — to the effect that so alarmed had 
Christendom become at the simultaneous apparition 
of the Turk and the comet, Pope Calixtus III, great- 



4o6 The Call of the Stars 

uncle of the notorious Lucretia and C^sar Borgia, issued 
a bull against the celestial visitant, and ordered that the 
bells in all the churches should be rung each day at noon, 
and that Ave Marias should be repeated by the faithful 
everywhere three times a day instead of two, and ap- 
pended this additional supplication: "Lord, save us 
from the devil, the Turk, and the terrifying comet." 

History records that the Turks were defeated while 
the comet was still visible, and Mahomet was compelled 
to raise the siege of Belgrade; and that within ten days 
after its appearance the comet began to diminish in 
brilliancy and extent, and finally, to the great relief 
of Europe, it entirely disappeared. In commemoration 
of the great victory, comet-money was struck, some of 
which, it is said, is still in existence. 

Maunder, in his Astronomy of the Bible j leans to the 
suggestion made by several writers that when Jerusalem 
was wasted by pestilence, and David offered up the 
sacrifice of intercession in the threshing-floor of Oman 
the Jebusite, the King may have seen in the scymitar- 
like tail of a comet (such as the great comet of 1882), 
God's "minister, a flaming fire" (Psalm civ., 4), "the 
angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the 
heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched 
out over Jerusalem" (I Chron. xxi., 16). 

Milton, England's greatest epic poet, compares the 
cloven-hoofed Satan to a comet, and the tail is described 
as setting fire to the sky: 

Incensed with indignation, Satan stood, 
Unterrified, and like a comet burned. 
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge 
In the arctic sky, and from his horrid hair 
Shakes pestilence and war. 

(Paradise Lost, Bk. II). 



Comets and Meteors 407 

Further on in the same poem, when, prior to the removal 
of Adam and Eve, the Cherubim descend to take 
possession of the Garden, he makes another allusion 
to a comet — an allusion, perchance, supporting the 
idea that a comet was "the flaming sword which turned 
every way, to keep the way of the tree of life:'* 

High in front advanced. 
The brandished sword of God before them blazed 
Fierce as a comet; which, with torrid heat 
And vapors as the Libyan air adust, 
Began to parch that temperate clime. 

(Paradise Lost, Bk. XII). 

Among the superstitious, the comet of 181 1 — the most 
remarkable comet which has appeared in modern times, 
since 1680 — ^was considered the dread harbinger of the 
War of 1 8 12. It was also this comet that attracted the 
attention of Napoleon in connection with his invasion 
of Russia, and divers omens were drawn from it. Fur- 
thermore, the most beautiful comet of which there is 
any record — Donati's of 1858 — was the accredited fore- 
runner of the American Civil War! 

By the ancients, comets were thought to be hairy ob- 
jects, from the appearance of the tails, hence the origin of 
the term " comet, " from the Greek xo^y]ty)<;, signifying 
"long-haired." A typical comet visible to the naked 
eye is an illuminated, filmy object, consisting usually 
of three parts — the nucleus, the coma, and the tail. 
The nucleus and coma taken together constitute the 
head, which is invariably the most important part of the 
comet. The heads of comets vary greatly in size, being 
anywhere from ten thousand miles up to more than a 
milHon miles in diameter. The nucleus, which contains 
nearly all the mass of a typical comet, varies from one 



•4o8 The Call of the Stars 

hundred miles to over five thousand miles in diameter. 
The luminous train, which presents the appearance of 
a stream of silvery-grey light, by which most naked-eye 
comets are attended, and which is the chief glory of a 
large comet, is a continuance of the coma, and is called 
the tail. 

Some comets have tails of enormous length, while 
others, a much larger number, have little or no tails. 
The tailed comets are frequently visible to the naked 
eye, while the tailless ones are not. Nearly all the large 
and brilliant comets have been accompanied by long 
tails, the tail of the great comet of 1843 being two hun- 
dred million miles long. A remarkable peculiarity of 
the tails of all comets is that they are directed approxi- 
mately away from the sun. 

The nucleus, or central part of a comet's head, is 
made up of meteorites, loosely packed together with 
wide interspaces, and various earthy substances in 
which hydrogen and other gases are absorbed. The 
meteorites may vary in size from fine dust to bodies of 
considerable proportion. They consist largely of iron 
or meteoric stone, with about five per cent, of nickel. 
The tails of comets consist of gaseous matter, such as hy- 
drogen, cyanogen, and other hydro-carbon compounds, 
and at times, also, of vapour of sodium and iron, mingled, 
perhaps, with minute solid particles, subjected to a 
strong repulsive force, which drives them away from the 
sun with enormous velocity. Nearly all of the light 
of comets comes from an electric illimiination of the 
gaseous matter, which in the tail is in a highly rarefied 
state. 

Two leading theories have been advanced to account 
for the tails of comets. One of these, the theory of a 
Russian astronomer, Bredichin, presvimes an electrical 



Comets and Meteors 409 

action emanating from the sun ; the other, that of a Swed- 
ish scientist, Arrhenius, supposes a pressure or push of the 
sun 's Hght and heat waves, termed * ' radiation pressure. 
However, as Pickering states, all that we at present 
know is that *4t is the effect of the sun upon the comet 
that creates its tail; just how it acts we do not know.'* 

The best classification of tails is that of Bredichin. 
He divides comets' tails into three principal types: 
the straight or hydrogen tail, like the tail of the great 
comet of 1843; the ordinary curved tail of the hydro- 
carbons, such as the broad streamer of Donati's comet 
of 1858; and the short, brush-like, stubby tails of 
metallic vapours. The repulsive forces in these differ- 
ent types are, respectively, from 12 to 15, 2 to 4, and 
1.5 times that of the attractive action due to gravitation. 

All the tails are hollow, luminous cones or cylinders, 
of which only the sides are generally visible. Every part 
of the comet is so transparent that even faint stars have 
been seen shining through the most brilliant portions, 
without any apparent diminution of their lustre. 

A notable example of comets breaking up and dis- 
appearing is that of Biela's comet, a short-period comet 
which was first seen in 1826. It had an orbital period 
of between six and seven years, and continued to be 
regularly visible imtil 1852, when it vanished from sight 
in interplanetary space, and has not been seen since. 
In its orbit, however, travels a large meteor swarm. 

Occasionally, as a result of the disturbing attraction 
of Jupiter, radical changes in cometary orbits have 
occurred, notably in the cases of Lexell's comet of 
1770, and of Brooks's comet of 1886. The giant planet 
is said to have so wrenched the Brooks comet out of 
its course, ''derailed it" as it were, as to change its 
period from twenty-seven to seven years. 



4IO The Call of the Stars 

Among the remarkable comets, many of which are 
celebrated in history, are the comet of 1 680, notable 
as being the one to which Newton 's theory of gravita- 
tion was first applied, and the great periodic comet 
of 1682. The latter — the most famous comet that 
has ever been known, and the first to make a pre- 
dicted return — ^was discovered by Edmtmd Halley, 
and is therefore called Halley's comet. For over two 
thousand years it has visited the sim's domain with 
periodic regularity once in every seventy-five to 
seventy-seven years, and has been seen at least twenty- 
eight times by the astonished eyes of man. At its 
last appearance (1910), it made a rather poor display 
and was a disappointment to the public and astrono- 
mers alike (Plates XLI. and XLIL). It may here be 
noted that in comet-pictures the stars usually appear 
as bright streaks and not as points, for the reason that 
the photographic telescope is adjusted to keep pace 
with the comet rather than with the stars. 

The great comet of 181 1, to which the wonderful 
vintage of that year was ascribed, was a magnificent 
object, and was visible for nearly a year and a half. 
Its nucleus was four hundred and twenty-eight miles 
in diameter, and of a ruddy hue, and was enclosed within 
a nebulous globe one hundred and twenty-seven thou- 
sand miles across. The length of the tail was one 
hundred and thirty million miles, and its breadth nearly 
fifteen million miles. The following lines were ad- 
dressed to it by ''The Ettrick Shepherd": 

Stranger of heaven, I bid thee hail! 
Shred from the pall of glory riven, 
That fiashest in celestial gale 
Broad pennon of the King of Heaven. 




Yerkes Observatory 



Plate XLII. Halley's Comet, May 29, 19 10 

(The tail is about 8° long) 



Comets and Meteors 411 

Whate 'er portends thy front of fire 
And streaming locks, so lovely pale, 
Or peace to man or judgment dire, 
Stranger of heaven, I bid thee hail! 

The splendid comet of 1843 was one of the most 
brilliant of modem times, and also marked a rich 
vintage year. It came so close to the snn that the two 
surfaces were only thirty- two thousand miles apart. 
The length of its tail was about two himdred million 
miles. 

The finest comet of the nineteenth century was the 
comet of 1858, called Donati's comet. It was remark- 
able for the intense brilliancy of its nucleus, and the 
magnitude and artistic conformation of its tail. It 
reached perihelion the latter part of September, and 
was visible to the naked eye for over three months. 
Donati's comet and DeCheseaux's of 1744, ^^^ consid- 
ered the most beautiful comets on record. Tern pel's 
comet of 1866 is imique in that it is connected with the 
Leonid meteors. 

The next notable comet was the Great Southern 
Comet of 1880. It was visible, however, for but two 
or three weeks, and then only in the southern hemi- 
sphere. It passed through the coronal envelope, and 
almost grazed the sun, after which it retreated in a 
damaged condition, and has never appeared since. 
The great comet of 1882 was the most magnificent in 
recent years. It remained in sight about nine months 
brandishing a portentous scy mi tar-like tail, which at 
its best was one hundred million miles in length. It 
travelled in nearly the same orbit as the comets of 1843 
and 1880. After it the best comet was Daniel's 
comet of 1907. 



412 The Call of the Stars 

Morehouse 's comet of 1908 (Plate XXXIII.) , although 
only a telescopic object, early attracted a great deal of 
attention, owing to the transformations which it tmder- 
went. Its lightning changes of form and its periodical 
outbursts were most remarkable. Time and again it 
lost its tail and as often formed new ones. Its spectrum, 
which showed the presence of carbon and cyanogen, was 
quite different from that of previous comets. 

The Daylight comet of 1910, called comet a 19 10, 
was a "surprise comet. " It was discovered one morn- 
ing in January, 19 10, by some miners in South Africa. 
After it passed the sun and became visible in the even- 
ing skies, it attracted much attention. Its tail reached 
for more than one hundred million miles across the sky. 

Comet c 191 1, one of the finest lesser comets of recent 
years, was discovered by Brooks at Geneva, N. Y., on 
July 20, 191 1 . To the naked eye it appeared as a hazy 
star, and' showed its cometary character unmistakably 
in an opera-glass or prism binocular. In September it 
became a splendid object in the evening sky, a photo- 
graph, taken of it by Barnard on the 22 d, showing its 
slender tail to be 15,000,000 miles long, and its head 
500,000 miles in diameter. On October ist, it was 
brighter than the fifth magnitude, and was telescopi- 
caUy visible during the latter half of November. On 
September i, 191 3, Metcalf discovered a small comet 
in the constellation Lynx. It was a telescopic object 
of about the tenth magnitude, and was known as comet 
h 1 91 3. For more details about these filmy voyagers 
the reader may consult Comets and Meteors, 

METEORS AND METEORITES 

Meteors, popularly known as shooting-stars or 
*' fiery tears, " are for the most part very small bodies — 



Comets and Meteors 413 

minute fragments of cometary debris — moving about 
in space unnoticeable, except when they come near the 
earth and enter its atmosphere. They are not intrinsi- 
cally luminous, but the friction resulting from their 
rush, usually obliquely, toward the earth and through 
the atmosphere, at an average speed of nineteen to 
twenty-five miles a second, transforms the motion into 
heat. 

The small particles of meteoric matter rapidly 
become incandescent, and bum like true stars with 
great brilliancy. Their glory, however,, is but for the 
moment, as even their visibility portends their disso- 
lution. Obviously the smaller ones are consumed by 
the excessive heat, their remains falHng to the earth 
in ferruginous dust mixed with carbon and nickel. An 
occasional meteor survives the fiery ordeal, and per- 
chance penetrates to the earth's surface. It has been 
calculated that every day the dust of some four hun- 
dred million meteors falls imperceptibly to the surface 
of the earth. 

The researches of Schiaparelli, Denning, and others 
have shown that meteors are probably the disintegrated 
parts of comets which have exhausted their cometary 
destiny, and no longer maintain a corporate existence. 
They generally travel together in swarms, which cir- 
cuit around the sun in elongated, elliptical paths, that 
resemble cometary orbits. Some of the orbits are 
actually those of known comets. 

Meteors come from definite areas of the sky, and 
arrive in swarms at certain times of the year, though 
some may be seen almost any night. That quarter of 
the heavens from which a shower of meteors comes is 
called a ''radiant." Three of the principal meteor 
swarms are well known and give rise to fine displays. 



414 The Call of the Stars 

They are the "Leonids" and the "Bielids," which 
appear in November, and the "Perseids" or August 
meteors. The most famous of these is probably the 
Leonid display. It received the name Leonids, because 
the radiant from which the meteors seemed to diverge 
is situated in the head of the constellation Leo. For 
some thirteen centuries the maximum showers have 
appeared with considerable regularity every thirty- 
three and a quarter years. These Leonid meteors 
form a compact swarm, and travel along the same orbit 
as Tempel's comet of 1866. The grandest display was 
that seen in the early morning hours of November 12, 
1833, when meteors fell from the starry vault numerous 
as the flakes of a shower of snow, and a ball of fire was 
seen at Niagara Falls as large as the moon. It is 
estimated that two hundred and forty thousand meteors 
appeared inside of seven hours. In 1 866 the shower was 
abundant and brilHant, but in 1899 the display was 
scanty and ineffective. There is reason to believe that 
there are several parallel streams of the November 
meteors, some of which are distributed entirely aroimd 
the orbit, so that about the 15th of November each 
year a few of them may be seen. 

The "Andromedid" shower occurs between the 
23rd and 27th of November. It received its name 
because the meteors appear to issue from the direction 
of the constellation Andromeda. The meteors have 
also been termed ''Bielids, " because their orbit is 
closely related with that of the missing comet of Biela, 
the disaggregated remains of which may have aided the 
swarm in taking on increased activity. During the 
Andromedid display in 1885 a meteoric mass fell at 
Mazapil, in northern Mexico, which some have thought 
may be a piece of Biela*s comet. It is now in the 



Comets and Meteors 415 

Museum at Vienna. It weighed about ten pounds, 
and was composed of iron alloyed with nickel. 

The August swarm occurs on the loth of the month, 
and has received the name of "Perseids, " because the 
radiant point is situated in the constellation Perseus. 
It has also been called the "tears of St. Lawrence,'* 
as the feast of that saint is on August loth, the date of 
the maximum shower. Its history may be traced back 
to 811 A.D. The orbit of this swarm is a very elonga- 
ted ellipse, and has been identified with that of Tuttle 's 
comet of 1862. The comet of 1532 also belongs to the 
Perseid orbit, and, if not already disintegrated, should 
return in 1919. The showers of the Perseid meteors are 
not limited to the date of August loth to the 12th, for 
meteors may fall in greater or less numbers for ten days 
each way. These meteors travel very rapidly, and fall 
at the rate of about sixty an hour. Their luminous 
ephemeral trails often persist for a minute or two before 
they become disseminated. 

The meteor showers of April 20th are known as the 
"Lyrids, " They correspond in regard to their orbits 
with the comet of 1861, and appertain to the constel- 
lation Lyra. 

Comparatively rare and startling are the objects 
called "fireballs " or bolides — soHd meteorites of various 
shapes and sizes, which burn in the air during their 
flight. They enter the earth's atmosphere with a 
velocity of from twenty to thirty miles a second, and 
quickly become incandescent. Their speed soon moder- 
ates, so that about the time they disappear they may not 
be moving more than a mile a second. They generally 
make their appearance at an altitude of from seventy- 
five to one hundred miles, and are seldom visible after 
having descended to within five miles of the earth's 



4i6 The Call of the Stars 

surface. Often while high up in the air they burst 
into luminous fragments, which, unless consumed in 
their flight, fall with a great rushing noise to the earth, 
sometimes striking with such force as to bury themselves 
in the ground. Not infrequently the train of sparks 
that usually follows a great fireball persists for a con- 
siderable time, as occurred on February 22, 1909, when 
a fireball, which passed over southern England, left a 
luminous train that remained visible for two hours, 
drifting and turning in the wind. 

In one of Raphael's finest pictures, The Madonna of 
Foligno, which dates from 1512, a fireball may be 
seen beneath a rainbow, the great painter desiring 
thus to preserve the memory of it as it fell near Milan 
on September 4, 151 1. 

When meteors come hurtling down through the 
atmosphere and reach the earth, they are called mete- 
orites, of which there are two kinds, the stony and the 
iron. Those containing an admixture of iron and stone 
are known as siderolites. The iron meteorites, or 
''siderites, " are associated with comets, and are com- 
posed almost entirely of iron and nickel, but contain also 
hydrogen, helium, and carbon. The stony meteorites, 
or "aerolites," are many times more numerous than 
the iron meteorites, and move usually with terrestrial 
velocities, while the iron meteorites move much faster. 
According to Berwerth of Vienna, some nine hundred 
meteorites of noticeable size fall on the earth each year. 

There are many remarkable stories handed down from 
early tim.es of stony meteorites falling from the sky, 
like that of the "Nemaean Lion," or "Lion of the 
Peloponnesus," which, it is believed, fell out of the 
moon upon the isthmus of Corinth. Tradition says 
that the shapeless block on which Diana of Ephesus 



Comets and Meteors 4^7 

stood was a meteoric stone. The celebrated *' black 
stone" in the Caaba, an old temple at Mecca, and the 
"Palladium" of ancient Troy, which were supposed to 
be gifts handed down from heaven, were probably stony 
meteorites. The star-stone, which fell all on fire, near 
Egos Potamos, in Thrace, in 406 B. C, and which was 
described as being the size of two millstones, was one 
of the most famous meteorites of antiquity. 

The dimensions of meteorites vary considerably, 
from impalpable dust to blocks weighing many tons. 
The National Museum at Washington contains some 
remarkable specimens of meteoric stones and meteoric 
irons. In the American Museum of Natural History, 
New York, is the "Long Island" meteorite, the largest 
stone meteorite known. It was found in more than three 
thousand pieces, and weighed a Httle over thirteen 
hundred pounds. The mass, it is thought, burst just 
as it struck the ground, near the town of Long Island, 
Kansas. Two of the best known instances of stony 
meteorites with high velocities are the six-hundred-and- 
sixty-pound one, which fell at Knyahinya, Hungary, 
and the seven-hundred-pound one that fell at Amana, 
Iowa. 

In Greenland and Mexico are found quantities of 
meteoric iron in such masses as for years to have 
furnished the natives with workable iron. The first 
iron used was called by the Greeks a(Bif)po(;, because 
it was sidereal or meteoric. 

The iron meteorite, "Ahnighito," brought to the 
United States by Peary, from Cape York, Greenland, 
is one of the largest known. It is now in the foyer 
collection of the American Museum of Natural History, 
New York, and weighs over thirty-six and a half tons. 
The equally large mass, discovered at Bacubirito, 
27 



41 8 The Call of the Stars 

Mexico, weighs about twenty tons. The Willamette 
meteorite found in the forest about nineteen miles 
south of Portland, Oregon, in 1902, is the largest ever 
found in the United States. It is about ten feet long, 
six feet high, and four feet thick, and weighs over fifteen 
tons. 

In the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 
and in the Natural History Museums of New York and 
Washington, are a number of meteoric irons known as 
Canyon Diablo meteorites. Lying some miles east of Can- 
yon Diablo, in northern Arizona, is ''Meteor Crater," 
about which masses of meteoric iron are scattered in 
concentric distribution to a distance of nearly five miles. 
Thousands of specimens of the iron have been collected 
in the district, varying in weight from a fraction of an 
ounce up to over half a ton, some of which became 
popularly famous because they contained minute frag- 
ments of diamond. 

The "crater" is a bowl-shaped hole some four thou- 
sand feet in diameter, and about six hundred feet in 
depth, whose walls rise about one hundred and fifty 
feet above the outlying plain, and is supposed by Bar- 
ringer, Merrill, and other observers, to have been formed 
by the impact of a mass of meteoric iron of enormous 
and hitherto unprecedented size, but which remains 
as yet undiscovered. It has been conjectured that 
this monster meteorite had a probable diameter of 
^YQ hundred feet, and was one of a flock of meteorites 
that formed the nucleus of a large comet, which possibly 
struck the earth at this point, according to geological 
indications, not more than five thousand years ago. 




The Yerkes 40-inch Refractor 

(The largest refracting telescope in the world. Its big lens weighs 1,000 
pounds, and its mammoth tube, which is 62 feet long, weighs about 12,000 
pounds. The parts to be moved weigh approximately 22 tons. 

The great J 00-/ wc/i reflector oi the Mount Wilson reflecting telescope — 
the largest re^^cZ/wg instrument in the world — weighs nearly 9,000 pounds, 
and the moving parts of the telescope weigh about 100 tons. 

The new 72-inch reflector at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, 
near Victoria, B. C, weighs nearly 4,500 pounds, and the moving parts 
about 35 tons.) 



INDEX 



Aberration of light, 77, 247 ^ 
Achernar (a'-ker-nar),in Eridanus, 

198 
Adams, J. C, and Neptune, 279, 

399 

Aerolites, 416 

^sculapius, prophecy concerning, 

97 

Age of the earth, 310 

Ahnighito, the Cape York me- 
teorite, 417 

Albedo (ai-be'-do), or light-re- 
flecting power, 299 

Albireo (al-bi'-re-o), beautiful 
double star, 123 

Al-Chiba (al-ki-ba'), in Corvus, 
55 

Alcor (80 Ursae Majoris), 43 

Alcyone (al-si'-6-n5), Madler's 
central sun, 176 

Aldebaran (al-deb'-ar-an), in Tau- 
rus, 172 

Alderamin (^l-de-ra'-min), or Al- 
pha Cephei, 159 

Algedi, in Capricornus, 129 

Algenib (^l-gen'-ib), in Perseus, 
146 

Algenubi (al-gen-Q'-bl), or Epsilon 
Leonis, 52 

Algieba (al-je'-ba), in Leo, 51 

Algol (ar-g61), the Demon Star, 

147 

variables, 237 

Algorab (^1-go-rab'), in Corvus, 

55 
Alioth (ar-5f-6th), 43 
Alkalurops (al-ka-lQ'-r6ps), in 

Bootes, 75 
All Hallow Eve, 180 
All Saints' Day, 180 
All Souls' Day, 180 
Almaak (^l-ma-^ck'), 156 



Alnilam (al-nMam'), 189 

Alnitak (al-ni-tak'), 189 

Alpha Centauri (al'-fa sen-taw'- 
re), 115 

Alpha Crucis (al'-fa crQ'-sis), 8 

Alphard (al-fard'), in Hydra, 54 

Alphecca (al-fek'-ka), 86 

Alpheratz (al-fe'-rats), 156 

Alpine Valley, 349 

Al Rischa (al-ri-sha'), or the Knot- 
Star, 168 

Altair (al-ta'-lr), 109 

shaft of, 108 

Amazon Star, 188 

American Association of Variable 
Star Observers, 236 

Ephemeris, 269 

Anderson, Dr. T. D., discovery 
of Nova Persei, 149, and 
of Nova Aurigas, 197 

Andromeda (an-drom'-e-da), con- 
stellation of, 154 

great nebula in, 157 

myth of, 155 

Andromedid meteors, 414 

Annular eclipse of sun, 360 

Antares (an-ta'-rez), 91 

Antinous (S,n-tin'-o-us), constella- 
tion of, 107 

myth of, 108 

Antlia, or the Air Pump, con- 
stellation of, 54 

Apennines, lunar, 349 

Apex of Sun's Way, 100 

Apsides (5,p'-si-dez), defined, 318 

Aquarius (a-kwa'-ri-us), constella- 
tion of , 133 

myths of, 134 

Aquila (^k'-wl-la), constellation 
of, 107 

family of, 100 

myths of, 108 

Arcandum, quoted, 114 

Archer, the, 112 



419 



420 



Index 



Arcturus (ark-tQ'-rus), 72 

Argo Navis (ar'-g5 na'-vis), 

constellation of, 57 
Argonautic expedition, 214 
Ariadne's (S.r-I-&d'-nez) Crown, 84 
Aries (a'-ri-es), constellation of, 

141 

First Point of, 28, 142 

myth of, 142 

Arion, legend of, 131 

Arrhenius, theory of, 409 

Ascension, right, defined, 25, 327 

Aselli (a-sel'-li), 64 

Ashen light, 337 

Aso San in Japan, 345 

Asterion, one of the Hunting 

Dogs, 71 
Asteroids, or planetoids, 274, 375 
Asterope (S,s-ter'-0-pe), 175 
Astrsea (^s-tre'-a), 60 
Astrology and the Bear's tail, 42 
Astronomer-priests, the Egyptian, 

30 

Astronomical psalm, the, 27 
Atmosphere, the, 312 
Atwood's "Celestial Sphere," 281 
August meteors, or Perseids, 415 
Auriga (aw-ry'-ga), constellation 
of, 193 

myths of, 194 

Aurora Australis, 227 

Borealis, 226 

Autumnal equinox, 26 
Autumn, the night-sky of, 126 



B 



Bacchus, crown given Ariadne by, 

85 

Bacubirito meteorite, 417 

Baily's Beads, 361 

Balance, the, 82 

Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens, 337 

Barnard, Edward E., of Yerkes 
Observatory, cited, 98, 218, 
243, 278, 380, 386, 390, 392 

quoted, 107, 190 

Base-line for parallax measures, 

245 
Bay of Fundy, tides in, 322 
Bay of Rainbows, 342 
Bayeux tapestry (ba-ytlOt 405 
Bear Driver, 70 

Greater, constellation of, 36 

— — Lesser, constellation of, 45 



Beehive, the, 64 
Bellatrix (bel-la'-trix) , 188 
B61opolsky, A., rotation of Venus, 

305 
Belt of Orion, 188 
Belts of Jupiter, 383 
Benetnasch (be-net'-n&sh), 42 
Berenice's Hair, constellation of, 

67 

Berlin Observatory, 399 

Betelgeux (bSt-ll-g<lz') or Betel- 
geuse (bgt'-ll-gooz), 186 

Bickerton, A. W., cited, 6, 260 

Biela's comet (Be'-la's kom'-et), 
409 

Big Diamond, 137 

Big Dipper, the, 37 

Binaries, spectroscopic, 233 

visual or telescopic, 232 

Binary stars, 232 

Binocular, the prism, 4 

Birmingham, J., amateur Irish 
astronomer, 87 

Birth of solar systems, 259 

Black Stone, the, 417 

Blaze Star, 87, 241 

Bode's Law, 375 

Bond, W. C, first director of 
Harvard College Observ- 
atory, cited, 158, 256, 

393 

Bo6tes (b5-5'-tez), constellation 
of, 70 

myths of, 71 

Bowl, the inverted, 

Bow-man, the, 112 

Bradley, J., discovery of aberra- 
tion of light, 77 

Bredichin 's classification of comets* 
tails, 409 

theory, 408 

Bridges on sun-spots, 289 

Bright-line nebulae, 228 

Brooks's comets, 409, 412 

Bull, the, or Taurus, 169 



Caaba, black stone in the, 417 
Cassar, Augustus, 82 

Julius, 330 

Calendar, 330 
Calydonian boar, 214 
Camelopardalis (kam-Sl-5-par'-da- 
lis), constellation of, 169 



164 



Index 



421 



Campbell, W. W., director of 
Lick Observatory, cited, 17, 

231, 369 

Campus Martins, 374 
"Canals" of Mars, 371 
Cancer, constellation of, 63 

myths of, 65 

Canes Venatici (ka'-nez vSn-at'- 

J-sl), constellation of, 68 
Canis Major, (ka'-nis ma'-jor), 

constellation of, 201 

myths of, 201 

Canis Minor (ka'-nJs ml'-nor), 

constellation of, 207 

myths of, 207 

Canopus (kan-5'-pus), 58 
Canyon Diablo, crater at, 418 
Cape Heraclides, 340 
Capella (ka-pel'-la), and the Kids, 

193 
Caph (kaff), in Cassiopeia, 152 
Capricornus (kSp-rl-kor'-nus) , con- 
stellation of, 128 

myths of, 129 

Capture Theory of See, 263 
Carbon dioxide, 312, 370 
Cardan, the astrologer-physician, 

42 
Carnival, origin of, 395 
Carpathian mountains, 349 
Cassini, G. D., first director of 
Paris Observatory, discov- 
eries of, 210, 392 
Cassini 's division, 392 
Cassiopeia (ka.s-sI-5-pg'-ya), con- 
stellation of, 150 

myths of, 151 

Castor, or Alpha Geminorum, 210 
Caucasus, lunar mountains, 349 
Celaeno (s5-le'-n0), an Atlantid 

nymph, 178 
Celestial latitude and longitude 
defined, 25 

photography, 256 

yardstick, 9 

Centauri, Alpha, parallax of, 251 

Omega, cluster of, 116 

Centaurus (sSn-taw'-rus), con- 
stellation of, 115 
Cepheid variables, 160, 238 
Cepheus (se'-fe-us), constellation 
of, 158 

myths of, 159 

Cerealia, 378 

Ceres, the planetoid, 376 



Ceti, Mira, the mysterious, 165, 

237 

Cetus (se'-tus), constellation of, 

164 

myth of, 164 

Chair, Cassiopeia's, 150 
Chamberlin and Moulton's plan- 

etesimal hypothesis, 259 
Chaos, Ovid on, 319 
Chara (ka'-ra) one of the Hunting 

Dogs, 71 
Charioteer, the, 193 
Charles's Wain, 38 
Chart of the Heavens, 6 

Spring Night-Sky, 32 

Summer Night-Sky, 80 

Autumn Night-Sky, 126 

Winter Night-Sky, 161 

Cheops (ke'-6ps), pyramid of, 

Chephren (kSf'-ren), pyramid of, 

29 
Chicago, tide at, 323 
ChiCygni, 125 
Chi Persei (kl per'-se-i), 148 
Christ, birth of, 319 
Chromosphere of sun, 293 
Circlet in the Western Fish, 167 
Circumpolar constellations, 37 
Civil day, the, 328 
Clock, mean solar, 325 

the sidereal, 326 

Clouds, the Magellanic, 223 
Cluster, the Jewelled, 235 
Clusters, star, 234 
Coal-Sacks, 94, 115, 122, 221 
Colossus, the famous, 296 
Colour of stars, 13, 232 
Columba Noachi, constellation of, 

200 
Columbus, Christopher, anecdote 

of, 359 
Colures (ko-lQrsO defined, 44 
Coma Berenices (ko'-ma bSr-e-nl'- 

sez), constellation of, 67 

myth of, 67 

Comet family, Jupiter's, 276, 

403 

Comets, 402 
Comparison stars, 236 
Conjunction, defined, 268 
Constellations, number of, 23 

origin of, 21 

the zodiacal, 23 

Contraction of sun, 286 



422 



Index 



bo- 
of. 



Copernicus, lunar crater, 348 

Nicholas, 271 

Cor Caroli, the beautiful, 68 
Cor Hydras, or Alphard, 54 
Cor Scorpionis, 91 
Cor Serpentis, 99 
Corona, the solar, 293 
Corona Borealis (ko-ro'-na 

re-a'-lis), constellation 

84 

myth of, 85 

Coronium (ko-ro'-ni-um), 294 
Corvus (kor'-vus), constellation 

of, 54 

myth of, 55 

Cosmic dust, 263 

Council of Nice, 335 

Counter-glow, 225 

Crab, the, or Cancer, 63 

Crab Nebula in Taurus, 181 

Crabtree, William, 307 

Crater (kra'-ter), constellation of, 

56 

myths of, 57 

Craters, lunar, 345 
Cr^pe ring of Saturn, 393 
Crescent moon, 336 
Crimson Star, 200 
Cross-motion of stars, 17 
Cross, St. Andrew's, 96 

the Northern, 121 

the Southern, 116 

Crown, the Pearl of the, 86 
Crucifixion, date of, 319 
Culmination, point of, 35 
Cupid's arrow, 106 
Cursa (kiir-sa'), in Eridanus, 

199 
Curvature of earth, 
Cycle, the sun-spot, 
*'Cygni, 61," 124 
Cygnus (sig'-nus), 

of, 121 

myths of, 122 

Cysat of Lucerne, first observer of 

Orion nebula, 191 



Daniel's comet, 41 1 
Dark nebulae, 221 
Dark stars, 15, 262 
Darwin, Sir G. H., on tidal fric- 
tion, 323 
Date-line, the international, 329 



309 

289 

constellation 



Day, All Saints', 180 

All Souls', 180 

change of, 329 

lunar, 325 

St. Martin's, 340 

St. Swithin's, 340 

sidereal and solar, 325 

Daylight comet, 412 

Day star, 294 

Dead suns, 15, 262 

Declination, defined, 25 

Deimos (di'm6s), satellite of Mars, 

373 

Delisle's method, 248 

Delphinus, (del-fi'-nus), constella- 
tion of, 131 

myth of, 131 

Demon star, 147 

Deneb (den'-eb), in Cygnus, 123 

Denebola (de-neb'-O-la), 50 

Dial, the heavenly, 324 

Diamond, the Big, 137 

the Little, 159 

of Virgo, the, 51, 68 

Diana, the Huntress, 185 

Diffraction grating, 254 

Diphda, in Cetus, 165 

Dipper, the Big, 37 

the Little, 46 

the Milk, 112 

of the Pleiades, the little, 175 

Dispersion of light by the prism, 
252 

Distance of moon, how deter- 
mined, 246 

of sun, how determined, 248 

Distances of the stars, 9, 250 

Dog-days, origin of, 202 

Dog-star, 202 

Dolphin, the, 131 

Donati's comet, 411 

Double stars, 231 

Draco (dra'-co), constellation of, 

75 

myths of, 78 

Draconitic month, 356 
Dragon, the great, 75 
Drift, solar, 100, 285 

stellar, 19 

Dubhe (dub'-he), one of the 

Greater Bear's pointers, 44 
Dumb-bell Nebula, 106 
Duplication of stellar figures, 22 
Duration of lunar eclipse, 358 
of solar eclipse, 361 



Index 



423 



E 



Eagle, the, 107 

Earth, age of, 310 

meteoric contributions to, 

413 

myths of, 318 

the planet, 272, 309 

rigidity of, 310 

Earth-shine on the moon, 337 
Easter, the festival of, 335 
Eclipse, black, 358 

year, 356 

Eclipses, lunar, 357 

solar, 360 

of Jupiter's satellites, 250, 

387 

Ecliptic, obliquity of, 25 

Egyptian astronomer-priests, 30 

Electricity, speed of, 9 

Elgie, J. H., quoted, 161, 224 

El Nath, or Beta Tauri, 181, 196 

Elongation, defined, 268 

Eltanin (el'-ta-nln), "the zenith 
star," 77 

Emerald star, the, 84 

Enceladus (en-sgl'-a-dus), 394 

Encke's (En'-ker's) comet, 404 

division, 392 

Enebo's Nova, in Gemini, 213, 
242 

Enif (SnMf), in Pegasus, 140 

Equation of time, 327 

Equator, celestial, 26 

Equinoctial colure, 44 

Equinoxes, the, 26 

precession of the, 28 

Equuleus (6-kwoo'-le-us), the 
Little Horse, 132 

Equus or Equuleus, constellation 
of, 132 

Eridanus (e-rld'-a-nus), constella- 
tion of, 197 

myths of, 198 

Eros, the planetoid, 377 

observations for parallax, 

.249 

Eruptive prominences, 292 

Esculapius, prophecy concerning, 

97 
Establishment of port, 320 
Eta Aquilse, 238 
Eta Argus, 58 
Europa, myth of, 170 
Everest, Mount, 311, 348 



Extra-Neptunian planet, 280 
Eyepieces in telescopes, 287 



Fabricius, D., first observer of 

variables, 165 
Faculae of the sun, 290 
Feast of Lanterns, 180 

of Novrooz, 33 

Field-glasses, 4 

Fire-balls, or bolides, 415 

First-magnitude stars, 6 

First point of Aries, 28, 142 

Fish, the Southern, 135 

Fish-Mouth Nebula, 190 

Fishes, Northern and Western, 

the, 167 
Fixed stars, the, 16 
Flagstaff (6800 ft.), Arizona, 

Lowell Observatory at, 372 
Flammarion, C, cited, 15 
Flamsteed, John, first Astronomer 

Royal, 24, 77 
Folk-lore of the moon, 351 
Fomalhaut (fo'-mal-hot), 136 
Fornax, constellation of, 163 
Forty-seven Toucanis, 120 
Fraunhofer, von, Josef (yO'-sSf fon 

froun'-hO-fer), 253 
Fraunhofer's lines, 253 
Friction, tidal, 323 
Full moon, the, 337 



Galaxy, or Milky Way, 217 
Galileo Galilei of Florence, 385, 

392 
Galle, J. G., finds Neptune, 399 
Garnet Star, or Mu Cephei, 160 
Gaseous nebulae, 228 
Gases, kinetic theory of, 299, 313 
Gate of the Gods, 130 

of men, 66 

Gazelle, the, 52 

" Gegenschein " (ga'-gSn-shin), the 

ghostly, 225 
Gemini (jgm'-I-ni), constellation 

of, 209 

myths of, 213 

George II L pensions Herschel, 

.396 
Georgium Sidus, the, 396 
Giant planet, the, 275, 380 



424 



Index 



"Giant's Eyes," the, 209 

Gienah (je'-nah), in Corvus, 55 

Gill, Sir David, of the Cape Obser- 
vatory, 249 

Giraffe, the, 169 

Gnomon of sun-dial, 325 

GOad, John, quoted, 302 

Goblet of Apollo, 57 

Golden Age, the, 60, 395 

Fleece, the, 57, 143, 214 

Gomeiza (gO-mei'-za), in Canis 
Minor, 208 

Goodricke, J., on variability of 
Algol, 147 

Gore, J. E., of Dublin, 194 

Gorgons, the Three, 145 

Grape-gatherer, the, 62 

Grating, diffraction, 254 

Gravitation, law of, 270 

Grazing collision, 260 

Great Pyramid, the long slant 
passage of, 29 

Square of Pegasus, 137 

White Way, the, 219 

Greater Bear, the, 36 

Dog, the, 201 

Green Flash, the, 225 

Greenwich Observatory, 289 

Greenwich of the sky, the, 28 

Gregorian calendar, 331 

Groombridge 1830, 17 

"Guards" of the Pole, 48 

Guides, the Three, 140 

Gulliver's Travels, 273 



H 



Habitability of Mars, 372 
Hale, G. E., director of Mount 
Wilson Solar Observatory, 
on the spectroheliograph, 

255 

on solar prominences, 291 

on sun-spots, 288 

Hall, Asaph, discovery of satellites 
of Mars, 274 

Halley, Edmund, second As- 
tronomer Royal, 410 

Halley 's comet, 410 

Hallow Eve, All, 180 

Hamal (h&m'-al), 143 

Harmonic law of Kepler, 270 

Harp, the celestial, 99 

Harvard College Observatory, 197, 
213, 243, 256 



Harvard Photometry, Revised, 7 

Harvest moon, 341 

Heavenly Twins, 209 

Helium in the stars, 15 

in the sun, 293 

Helmholtz, on solar radiation, 286 

Henderson, Thomas, Scottish as- 
tronomer, 115, 251 

Heraclides promontory, 340 

Hercules (her'-kQ-lez), constella- 
tion of, 116 

great cluster in, 120 

myths of, 117 

Herod the Great, 359 

Herodotus, valley of, 350 

"Herschel" eyepiece, 287 

Herschel, Sir John, quoted, 280 

Sir William, discovery of 

Uranus, 213, 396 

Hesperus, or Venus, 304 

Hipparchus (Hip-par'-chus), cele- 
brated Greek astronomer, 
28 

Hippocrene, fount of, 138 

Hooke, Robert, English astrono- 
mer, 77, 144 

Horn of plenty, 130 

Horrocks, J., curate of Hoole, 307 

Horse, the Winged, 137 

Horus, Egyptian god of sun, 295 

Hour-glass Sea, 373 

Hudibras, Butler's, and astrology, 
42 

Huggins, Sir William, English 
astronomer, 228 

Hunter's moon, 341 

Hunting Dogs, 68 

Huyghens, C., the great Dutch 
astronomer, 392 

Hyades (hi'-a-dez), 171 

Hydra, constellation of, 53 

myths of, 53 

Hydrogen in the stars, 15 



I 



lapetus (l-S,p'-e-tus), satellite of 
Saturn, and a variable, 394 

Imbrium, Mare, 344 

Indian summer, 340 

Inferior conjunction, defined, 268 

Inner planets, 266 

International date-line, 329 

photographic survey of. the 

sky, 6 



Index 



425 



Invisible or dark stars, 15, 262 
Iridum, Sinus, 342 
Iron, meteoric, 417 



J 



Jewelled Cluster, the, 235 
Job's Coffin, or the Dolphin, 131 
Job's Star, or Arcturus, 72 
Jovian belts, 383 
Julian calendar, 330 
Juno, the planetoid, 376 
Jupiter, comet family of, 276, 

403 

the giant planet, 275, 380 

great red-spot on, 276, 384 

myths of, 387 

satellites of, 276, 384 



**K," of Cepheus, 45 

Kapteyn, J. C, cited, 20, 251 

Keeler, J. E., cited, 373, 393 

Kepler, J., laws of, 269 

Kepler's Star, 99 

Kern-Baby, 61 

Keyhole Nebula in Argus, 58 

"Keystone," the, 117 

Kinetic theory of gases, 299, 313 

Kirchhoff, G. R. (Kirk'-hof), 
interpretation of the spec- 
trum, 253 

Knot-Star or Al Rischa, 168 



Lace Nebula, the, 125 

Lacerta, constellation of, 169 

Ladle, the, 112 

*'Lady in the Chair," 150 

Lady in the Moon, 341 

Lake of Dreams, 344 

Lalande 21 185, 9 

Lampland of Lowell Observatory, 

371 

Lang, Andrew, cited, 61 

Langley, S. P., American astrono- 
mer, 294 

Lanterns, Feast of, 180 

Laplace, nebular hypothesis of, 
262 

Lassell,W., discovery of Neptune's 
satellite, 401 

La Superba, the red star, 43 



Latitude, celestial, 25 

terrestrial, 25 

Law, Bode's, 375 

Kepler's, 269 

Newton's, 270 

Leap-year, rule for, 331 

Leibnitz mountains (lunar), 350 

Leo, constellation of, 48 

myths of, 49 

sickle of, 49 

Leo Minor, constellation of, 52 

Leonid meteors, 414 

Lepus (le'-pus), constellation of, 

199 
Lesser Bear, the, 45 

Dog, the, 207 

Leverrier, U. J. J., and Neptune, 

279, 399 
Libra, constellation of, 82 

myth of, 82 

Librations of the moon, 333 
Lick Observatory, 230, 231, 373 
Light, aberration of, 77, 247 

the Ashen, 337 

the velocity of, 9, 250, 387 

Light-year, the, 9 

Lilac stars, 67 

Line of sight, motion in, 17 

Linn^, lunar crater, 348 

Lippershey, Franz, inventor of the 

telescope, 385 
Little Dipper, the, 46 
Little Dipper of the Pleiades, 175 
Long Island Sound, tides in, 322 
Longitude, celestial, 25 

terrestrial, 25 

Lost Pleiad, the, 178 

Lowell, Percival, on "canals" of 

Mars, 372 

cited, 305 , 306, 369 

quoted, 262 

Lowell Observatory, 372 
Lucid stars, 7 
Lucifer, or Venus, 304 
Lunar Apennines, the, 349 

Caucasus, the, 349 

eclipses, 357 

fancies, 342 

phases, 336 

stars, 50 

Lynx, constellation of, 197 
Lyra, constellation of, 99 

myths of, 100 

ring nebula in, 105 

Lyrid meteors, 106, 415 



426 



Index 



M 



"M," of Cassiopeia, 151 

Madonna of Foligno, 416 

Madler, J. H., theory of a central 
sun, 176 

Magellanic Clouds, 223 

Magnetic storms, 290 

Magnifying power of opera- 
glasses, etc., 4 

Magnitudes, stellar, 5 

Magpie bridge, the legend of, 103 

Maia (ma'-ya), 178 

Maiden's Hair, 63 

Maintenance of solar heat, 286 

Major planets, 266 

Man in the Moon, the, 341 

Manger, the, 64 

Marfik (mar'-flk), in Hercules, 
120 

Maria, or "seas," 343 

Markab, or Alpha Pegasi, 140 

Mars, the red planet, 272, 366 

canals of, 371 

myths of, 374 

satellites of, 373 

"Martial Star," the, 187 

Martin, Martha E., quoted, 128, 
210, 215 

Mazzaroth, 27 

Mean solar day, 325 

solar time, 325 

solar year, 330 

Measurement of the moon's dis- 
tance, 246 

of the distance of stars, 250 

of the sun's distance, 248 

standards of, 38 

"Medicean Stars," the, 385 

Mediterranean Sea, tides in, 322 

Medusa, the head of, 146 

Megrez (mg'-grez), the Cinderella 
star, 44 

Melotte, P., of Greenwich Obser- 
vatory, 386 

Mendeleeff , on coronium, 294 

on the weight of the atmos- 
phere, 313 

Menkalina (men-ka-H-nah'), 196 

Menkar, or Alpha Ceti, 165 

Mercury, the planet, 270, 297 

myths of, 301 

transits of, 301 

Meridian, the, 35 

Merope (mer'-O-pe), 177 



Mesarthim (m^s-ar-thlm'), 144 
Metcalf, Rev. J. H., 99, 412 
Meteoric irons, 417 

stones, 417 

Meteorites, 416 

Meteors, or shooting stars, 412 

Micromegas, romance of, 205 

Migrating stars, 19 

Milan Observatory, 371 

Milk Dipper, the, 112 

Milky Way, the, 217 

myths of, 221 

Mintaka (min'-ta-ka), 189 

Mira Ceti, the famous variable, 

165, 237 
Mirach (mi'-rak), in Andromeda, 

157 

Mirfak, or Alpha Persei, 146 

Mirzam (mer'-zam), in Canis 
Major, 206 

Mixing Bowl, the, 56 

Mizar (mi'-zar), 42 

Mohammed's star, 29 

Monoceros (m0-n6s'-er-8s), con- 
stellation of, 209 

Month, the common or synodical, 

329 

the nodical or draconitic, 

356 

Months, rule for length of, 329 

Moon, the, 332 

and the weather, the, 337 

causes tides, the, 334 

dogged by a star or a planet, 

the, 338 

figures in the, 351 

the harvest, 341 

the hunter's, 341 

lack of atmosphere in, 334 

librations of, 333 

maiden, the, 342 

myths of, 351 

old, in new moon's arms, 337 

the paschal, 335 

phases of the, 336 

Morehouse's comet, 412 

Motion, in line of sight, 17 

proper or cross, 17 

Motions of planets, 269 

Mount Everest, highest terres- 
trial mountain, 348 

McKinley, highest peak in 

North America, 349 

Wilson Solar Observatory, 

120 



Index 



427 



Mountains, lunar, 348 

Miiller, albedo of Jupiter, 382; 

and of Uranus, 397 
Multiple stars, 231 
Mycerinus, pyramid of, 29 



N 



Naked eye, number of stars 

visible to, 6 
Napoleon and the comet of 181 1, 

407 
Nautical Almanac, 269 
Naval Observatory, Washington, 

373 

Neap tides, the, 320 

Nebula in Andromeda, 157 

the Crab, 181 

the Dumb-bell, 106 

the Keyhole, 58 

the Lace, 125 

the North America, 125 

the Omega, 115 

the Orion, 190 

the Owl, 44 

the Ring, 105 

theTrifid, 115 

the Whirlpool, 69 

Nebulae, 15, 228 

spiral, 230 

Nebular hypothesis, the, 262 

Nebulium (ng-bu'-ll-um), 191 

Nebulosities of the Pleiades, 177 

Nebulous stars, 229 

Nemsean lion, the, 49, 416 

Neon discovered by Ramsay, 227 

Neptune, the planet, 279, 399 

myths of, 401 

satelHte of, 279, 401 

New stars, or Nov£e, 240 

Newton, Sir Isaac, law of gravita- 
tion, 270 

Nice, council of, 335 

Night-sky of Autumn, the, 126 

of Spring, the, 32 

of Summer, the, 80 

of Winter, the, 161 

Nodes, defined, 355 

Nodical month, 356 

North America Nebula, 125 

Northern Coal-sack, 122, 221 

Cross, 121 

Crown, 84 

Fish, 167 

Northern Lights, 226 



North Pole, 46 

Star, or Polaris, 47 

Nova Aurigae, 197 

Lacertse, 169 

Novae, or new stars, 240 
November meteors, 414 
Nubecula (nu-bek'-Q-la) Major,223 

Minor, 223 

Number of stars, 6 



Oases of Mars, 371 

Obliquity of the ecliptic, 25 

Octantis, Sigma, 221 

Olbers, H. W., celebrated German 

astronomer, 376 
Olcott, W. Tyler, cited, 22, 104, 

168, 180 

quoted, 122 

Old moon in new moon's arms, 337 
Omega Centauri (o-me'-ga sen- 

taw'-re), 116 
Omicron Ceti (o-mi'-kron se'-ti), 

or Mira, 165, 237 
Opera-glasses, magnifying power 

of, 4 
Ophiuchus (o-fi-a'-kus), constella- 
tion of, 94 

myths of, 96 

Opposition, defined, 268 
Optically double stars, 231 
Orbits of comets, 402 

of major planets, 267 

of terrestrial planets, 266 

Origin of the constellations, 21 
Orion (5-ri'-6n), constellation of, 

182 

belt of, 188 

great nebula of, 190 

sword of, 189 

myths of, 184 

Oxygen in atmosphere, 312 



Pacific Ocean, tides in, 322 
Palladium, the, 417 
Parallax, defined, 244 

of moon, 246 

of stars, 251 

of sun, 247 

Paris conference, the, 6 

Observatory, the, 6 

Parthenon, the celebrated, 180 
Passover, the Feast of the, 335 



428 



Index 



Paul, St., sermon on Mars Hill, 

22 

Pearl of the Crown, 86 

Pegasus (pSg'-a-sus), constellation 
of, 137 

Great Square of, 137 

myths of, 137 

Pentecost, the Feast of, 335 

Periodic comets, 403 

variables, 237 

Periodicity of sun-spots, 289 

Perrine, C. D., of the Lick Obser- 
vatory, 230, 386 

Perrotin, J., "canals" of Mars, 371 

Persei, Nova, 149 

Perseid meteors, 414 

Perseus (pSr'-s5-us), constellation 
of, 144 

great cluster of, 148 

myths of, 145 

sword-hand of, 148 

Phaet, or Alpha Columbae, 201 

Phaethon driving the chariot of 
the sun, 89 

Phainomena, the, 22 

Phases of the moon, 336 

Phobos, satellite of Mars, 373 

Phoebe, satellite of Saturn, 394 

Phosphorescence of dark side of 
Venus, 306 

Phosphorus, or Venus, 304 

Photographic chart of the sky, 6 

Photography, celestial, 256 

Photometry, Harvard revised, 7 

Photosphere of sun, 292 

Physical doubles, 232 

Pickering, E. C, director of 
Harvard College Observa- 
tory, cited, 43, 196 

W. H., cited, 192, 345, 371, 

384. 394 
Pictor, or the Painter's Easel, 

constellation of, 17 
Pierre de Coulevain (Mile. Favre), 

cited, 13 
Pilgrim Star, or Tycho's Star, 153 
Pisces (pJs'-s5z), constellation of, 

166 

myths of, 167 

Piscis Australis (pKs'-sts Aus-tr&l'- 

is), constellation of, 135 
Place of change of date, 329 
Planet, extra-Neptunian, 280 
Planetary nebulae, 229 
Planetesimal hypothesis, the, 259 



178 



Planetoids, or Little Planets, 274, 

375 
Planets, description of, 266 
Pleiad month, the, 180 
Pleiades (ple'-ad-ez), 173 

myths of, 177 

Pleione, or the lost Pleiad, 

Plough, the, 38 

Po, the river, 197 

Poczobut, M. de (deh potch'-o- 

boot), Polish astronomer, 

98 
Pointers, the, 38 
Polar caps of Mars, 273, 369 
Polaris, the north polar star, 46 
Pole, north celestial, motion of, 28 

of ecliptic, 28 

Pole-star, how to find, 46 
Pole-stars, succession of, 29 
Pollux (p61'-luks), 211 
Porrima, or Gamma Virginis, 62 
Praesepe (pre-se'-pe) as a weather 

guide, 65 
Precession of the equinoxes, 28 
Prism, the dispersion of light by 

the, 252 

binocular, the, 4 

Proctor, Mary, quoted, 151, 204 
Procyon (pro'-sl-on), in Canis 

Minor, 207 
Prognostics, weather, 65, 338 
Prominences, solar, 290 
Proper motion of stars, 17 
Pulchrima, 74 
Pyramid of Cheops, the, 30 
Pyramids of Gizeh, the, 29 



Quadruple stars, 231 

R 

Radial velocity, stellar, 17 
Radiant points of meteors, 413 
Radiation pressure, 409 
Radio-activity, as a source of 

heat supply, 286 
Radius- vector of a planet, 269 
Rainbows, Bay of, 342 
Rainfall and sun-spots, 290 
"Rain stars," the, 172 
Ram, the, or Aries, 141 
Ramsay, Sir William, cited, 227 
Range of the tides, 321 



Index 



429 



Ras Algethi (ras al-jg-te'), 118 

Alhague (ras al-ha'-gwe), 97 

Rastaban (ras-ta-bSn'), 7^ 
Rays* systems on the moon, 350 
Reaping Hook, the, 50 
Red region, 13, 125 

stars, 15 

Spot of Jupiter, the, 276, 384 

Refraction, atmospheric, 314 
Regulus (r^g'-Q-lus), 50 
Retrograde motion of Phoebe, 394 
Reversing layer of sun, 293 
"Rice grain" structure of photo- 
sphere, 293 
Rider-Star, the, 43 
Rigel (rl'-jel), 187 
Right ascension, defined, 25, 327 
Rigidity of the earth, 310 
Rills on the moon, 350 
Ping mountains of the moon, 345 

nebula, the, 105 

Rings of Saturn, 277, 392 

R Leonis, 52 

R Leporis, 200 

Roche's Limit, 260 

Roemer, velocity of light, 387 

Romance of Micromegas, 205 

Rosse, Lord, Whirlpool nebula, 69 

Rotch, Lawrence, cited, 312 

Royal family of the sky, 125 

stars of astrology, the, 1 1 

Ruchbah (ruk'-bah), 152 
Runaway star, the, 18 



Sagitta (sa-jlt'-a), constellation 
of, 106 

myths of, 106 

Sagittarius (saj-i-ta'-r^us), con- 
stellation of, 112 

myths of, 113 

St. Martin's day, 340 

Paul quoted, 22 

Swithin's day, 340 

Saros, or eclipse period, the, 356 

Saturn, the ringed planet, 276, 

389 

myths of, 394 

the ring system of, 277, 392 

satellites of, 277, 393 

temple of, the, 395 

Saturnalia, the, 395 

Scales, the, 82 

Scheiner, Julius, quoted, 158 



Schiaparelll, G. V. (skya-pa-rSl'- 
le), cited, 265, 371 

Scintillation of stars, the, 5 

Scorpio, constellation of, 87 

myths of, 88 

Sculptor, constellation of, 127 

Scutum, or Sobieski's Shield, con- 
stellation of, 107 

Sea-goat, the, 128 

Sea-monster, the, 164 

"Seas," lunar, 343 

Seasons, the, 316 

Seeliger, Hugo, cited, 66 

Seeliger's hypothesis, modifica- 
tion of, 243 

Segment of Perseus, the, 145 

Serpens (ser'-penz), constellation 
of, 94 

myths of, 96 

Serpent-holder, the, 94 

Serviss, G. P., cited, 18, 35, 72, 
92, 138, 202 

quoted, 32, 191, 226 

Seven Stars, the, 180 

Shadow bands, 361 

Shakespeare and the man in the 
moon, 342 

Shaw, cited, 312 

Sheliak, pear-shaped variable, 
104 

Shepherd's moon, 341 

Shield of Orion, 184 

Shooting stars, 412 

Sickle of Leo, 49 

Sidereal month, 329 

day, 324 

time, 323 

year, 330 

Siderites and siderolites, 416 

Sight, motion in line of, 17 

Signs of the zodiac, the, 28 

Simul-transit stars, 35 

Sinus Iridum, 342 

Sirius, the radiant, 203 

Sixty-one Cygni, 124 

Sky-student, outfit for the, 35 

Slow- winking star, the, 147 

Smoked or coloured glasses, use 
of, 289 

Snow on Mars, 369 

Sobieski's Shield, 107 

Solar parallax, 247 

storms, 288 

system, the local, origin of, 

- 259 



430 



Index 



Solar — Continued 

system, the local, future of, 

262, 287 

system, the local, synopsis of, 

265 

time, 323 

SoUas, W. J., cited, 310 

Solstices, the, 26 

Solstitial colure, the, 44 

Sosigenes, Alexandrian astrono- 
mer, 330 

Sound, velocity of, 9, 313 

Southern Cross, the, 116 

Fish, the, 135 

Pointers, the, 116 

Spectroheliograph, the, 255 

Spectroscope, the, 254 

Spectroscopic binary stars, 233 

shift, 255 

Spectrum analysis, 251 

Speed of light, the, 9, 250 

Spica (spl'-ka), in Virgo, 61 

Spinning Damsel, legend of the, 
103 

Spiral nebulas, 230 

Spots on the sun, 288 

Spring, The Night-Sky of, 32 

tides, 320 

Square of Pegasus, Great, 137 

Standard time, 328 

Star charts, how to use, 34 

clusters, 234 

colours, 13 

magnitudes, 7 

and planet finder, 36 

the swiftest known, 17 

Stars, "four minutes fast," 24 

how designated, 24 

number of, 6 

the rising and setting of, 23 

Stefan's (sta'-fanz) law, 370 

Stellar distances, 9, 244 

drift, 19, 20 

Stew-pan, the, 147 

Stiklestad, eclipse of, 363 

Stonehenge, 296 

Storms, magnetic, 290 

Streams of stars, Kapteyn's two, 
20 

Summer, The Night-Sky of, 80 

solstice, 26 

Sun, the, 284 

dependence of earth on, 265 

eclipses, of, 360 

motion in space, 285 



myths of, 294 

stellar magnitude of, 8 

temperature of, 285 

temples of, 295 

Sun-dial, at Jaipur, 326 

time, 327 

"Sun-glow," the, 227 
Sun-spot cycle, 289 
Sun-spots, 288 

Sun's light and heat, how main- 
tained, 286 

Way, the, 285 

Swan, the flying, 121 

Swastika Cross, the, 20 

Swift, Dean, on satellites of Mars, 

273 
Sword of Orion, 189 
Sword-hand of Perseus, 148 
Sy nodical month, 329 
Syrtis Major, Martian gulf, 373 



T Coronae, 87 
Tabernacles, Feast of, 335 
Table of solar and planetary statis- 
tics, 282, 283 
Tails of comets, 409 
Tanabata, festival of, 104 
Taurus, constellation of, 169 

myths of, 170 

Taurus Poniatowski, constellation 

of, 98 
"Tears of St. Lawrence," 149, 

415 
Temperatures, underground, rise 

of, 310 
Tempel's comet, 403, 414 
Temple of Castor and Pollux, 

215 

of Saturn, 395 

Temporary stars, or Novae, 240 

Terminator, the, 336 

Terrestrial planets, 266 

Thales, eclipse of, 362 

Theophilus, lunar crater, 346 

Theta Orionis, 189 

"Three Guides," the, 140, 152 

Thuban (thu-ban'), formerly pole- 
star, 77 

Tides, the, 319 

Time, equation of, 327 

sidereal and solar, 323 

Titan, Saturn's largest satellite, 
and a variable, 393 



Index 



431 



Titius, discovery of Bode*s Law, 

Transits of Mercury, 301 

of Venus, 307 

Trapezium of Orion, 189 
Triangulum, constellation of, 141 
Trifid nebula, 115 
Triple stars, 231 
Tropical year, 330 
Tuscarora Deep, the, 311 
Tuttle's comet, 415 
Twilight, 315 
Twinkling of stars, 5 
Twins, the heavenly, 209 
Tycho, ray-system of, 347 
Tycho's Star, 153, 240 



U 



Underground temperatures, 310 

Unicorn, the, 209 

Uranus, the planet, 277, 396 

• myths of, 398 

satellites of, 278, 398 

Ursa Major, constellation of, 36 

myths of, 39 

Ursa Minor, constellation of, 45 
myths of, 46 



*'V" of Taurus, the, 172 

Variable stars, 235 

Vega, the azure-tinted, 102 

Velocity of light, 9, 250 

of solar system, cosmic, 18, 

285 

of sound, 9, 313 

of stars, 17 

Venus, the planet, 271, 302 

myths of, 308 

phases of, 271, 304 

transits of, 307 

Vernal equinox, the, 26, 167, 324 
Vesta, the planetoid, 376 
Vindemiatrix (vJn-de-ml-a'-trlks), 

62 



Vintage, influence of comets on, 

410 
Virgo, constellation of, 59 

myths of, 60 

Vortices, electrical, 288 
Vulpecula, constellation of, 106 



W 



"W" of Cassiopeia, 150 
Washington, U.S. Naval Observa- 
tory, 373 
Water, lack of, on moon, 334 

vapour bands, 369 

Water-bearer, the, 133 
Water- jar of Aquarius, 134 
Water-snake, the, 53 
Wave motion, laws of, 321 
Weather foretold by Prsesepe, 65 

the moon and the, 338 

Western Fish, the, 167 
Whale, the, 164 
Whirlpool nebula, 69 
Willamette meteorite, 418 
Williams, Stanley, cited, 381 
Winking Demon, the, 147 
Winter, The Night-Sky of, 161 

solstice, 26 

Witt, discovery of Eros, 377 
Wolf-Rayet stars, 58 
Woman in the moon, the, 351 



" Y" of Aquarius, 134 
Year, length of, 330 

number of eclipses in, 356 

the opening of, 33 

Young, C. A., cited, 202, 246 



Zenith (ze'-nith), 14 
Zodiac, the, 26 

vsigns of the, 28 

Zodiacal (zO-di'-a-kal) band, 

circle, 26 
light, 224 



ct 



